Talking About Cloud Computing (Part 2)

Last week, Google DC Talks held a discussion on cloud computing. It also served as an opportunity to showcase a recent study on the subject conducted by the Pew Reseach Center's Internet and American Life Project. In the Pew report, it was revealed that while most people have probably not heard the term,"cloud computing," they most certainly engage in it ("'Cloud computing' takes hold as 69% of all Internet users have either stored data online or used a web-based software application.")

So what are people saying?

Mike Nelson, a professor of Communications, Culture, and Technology at Georgetown University, says cloud computing will "transform the way we do computing ... not in ten years, but more like in four or five." Nelson says this new way of computing is about important as the Web was fifteen years ago. But he warned that there are still challenges ahead, and policy often lags far behind bursts of innovation and hardware development. He said there is a definite need for education on where data is saved and what personal or professional consequences may exist for having data or information exposed.

Ari Schwartz from the Center for Democracy and Technology said that while things you may keep in your house are constitutionally protected, the things you place in the "cloud" are not. Schwartz said he hopes that courts will eventually see that privacy should be constitutionally protected in the cloud, as well as in other areas of people's lives.

"Bring the fourth amendment into the 21st century," said Schwartz.

Clearly, cloud computing offers businesses and individuals creative and more efficient ways to do business, but there are limits. Dan Burton of salesforce.com said there are some organizations, agencies, and businesses that will not place confidential, sensitive information in the cloud. The risk is too great, especially when it relates to national security or closely held trade secrets. Keeping information like that in an in-house server is much preferable to letting it float in cyberspace where security is an unknown.

All of the participants in the discussion agreed that cloud computing will be a major topic over the next few months as we consider how it is affecting people, commerce, and computing. Additionally, the privacy and education concerns will almost certainly be a recurring theme. Stay tuned.