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Cloud horror

7 points by 4_posts_etc ↗ HN
So, iCloud sounds cool and all, but how come no one talks about privacy? It was the one single thing that I was waiting to hear at WWDC but no word. It is clear that all the big boyz like Apple, Google, Amazon, etc. want to move us to the cloud, and tomorrow even start selling us machines without own storage capacity. All will be streamed and stored "somewhere else". Like if what's happening on facebook and elsewhere is not enough, we are now heading to a norm where we won't "own" our data. I'm not comfortable at all with this idea, and I fear that soon "switching off" the iCloud (or any cloud) won't be optional.

6 comments

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fbnt
Isn't it ironic? The Cloud as we know it is the very opposite of a real cloud. Until recent times, the Internet has been a good model of a cloud infrastructure: millions of big & small indipendent data clusters interconnected to each other. As you move resources to 'the cloud', you centralize data to a unique proprietary host, hence the privacy concerns.
rkwz
Actually iCloud like services solve lot of problems - backups, syncing across many devices..

... err..umm.. wait a sec

why can't it be done without the internet? Why can't I just touch my mac with my iphone and it syncs all my data? what's wrong with having apple time machine for backups? And what's the benefit to apple for providing a service like this for free?

sharth
From what I understand, 50% of iPhone users have not reconnected their phone to iTunes since the initial activation.
rkwz
Yep, I read that news. But they need not _connect_ to a mac or pc with wires, they should be able to sync automatically using wifi without even launching itunes. It's not that hard to do.
handrake
Isn't that what they are trying to do with iCloud?