Monday, January 31, 2011

The White Fluffy Cloud

Hey there, Alan Hucklebin here and this is the shit I am going to talk about today...

Have you ever been torn by technology and what it has to offer? For example this thing we call the "Cloud". I must admit at first I thought this was the best thing since sliced bread (whole wheat of course). But as I thought more about it and started to use it it hit me how crazy this thing whole “Cloud” thing is.

For those of you who don't know what "The Cloud" is it's rather simple. Its just a place in cyberspace (I know, so 2001), that allows you to access data which is stored out in nowhere land. So you can store files, access information like Google calendars, syncronize contact lists, bla bla bla, all at a central location. This is then accessible by and device you choose because it's stored out in nowhere land. Simple concept, with some crazy implications.

For example, I noticed the other day when I was writing an email with our big brother Gmail (Google). I was writing a very private message to a foreign security minister (I will leave out the country due to security and personal reasons) when I start getting advertisements on specific things I was talking about in the email. I was asking him about what sort of Ammunitions and Ballistics gel they used (for curiosity sake). Well behold Elija, suddenly I get pumped with advertisements that directly correspond to my questions. It struck me as rather strange because how in the world would Gmail know what to direct the advertisements too? I'll tell you how! They freeeken "read" and word categorize every single email. Follow by a profile and then it is run against a huge database and spit out on your page! Heck they are doing it to this post right now! Kind of scary hey? I agree.

The irony in all of this is that the more you email, the more data they collect on you. Now don't get me wrong, I’m not some sort of conspiracy theory kind of guy, but why doesn't this scare anyone? It certainly scares me. But does it scare me enough to not use their services? Probably not....and perhaps that's the sad part.

I should also note that if you ever read the user agreements before you sign up for a Gmail account you'd be surprised at what they can do with the data they acquire from you. You basically sign it over.

Assuming this post doesn’t get deleted by Google I am always surprised at how much we give up for the sake of convenience. I mean, being able to access files from my iPhone, Laptop, PC and Mac all up to date, anywhere in the world any time is a pretty cool thing.

So just be aware, when using “The Cloud’ remember someone/something is reading, someone is watching and someone knows! (dah dah dah….). One day someone may tell you things you didn’t’ even know about yourself!

....and that's the shit!

Alan Hucklebin

No comments:

Post a Comment