Cloud computing
Cloud computing has definitely shifted the way that I use the web. I don’t save as much on my computer and I don’t always need to have my jump drive with my files with me. For collaborations I often use Google Docs. I have also uploaded videos on to YouTube and used WordPress and Blogger. I have also used other programs such as Picasa and Slide roll to upload pictures and presentations. All of these programs make it easier to showcase and access my work.
I do worry about security and I do try and make sure that I don’t put any personal or sensitive information on these sites. While I may be in this technology program, I do not have a Facebook account. It drives my friends nuts, but I don’t feel comfortable using such applications as they have a reputation of changing their security and privacy policies and have issues with people hacking into their sites and comandeering them. And I am glad that your presentation addresses security and prvacy, although I do wonder how many people read those “I agree/disagree” policies that we all click prior to using an application.
Juliana.
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mcquaid 5:32 pm on October 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
It’s tough, isn’t it, Juliana, to not do what the e-crowd is doing? I would have no problem dropping Facebook if something with more control / privacy came along. Until then, though, F-book is fine with me. I just use it somewhat cautiously, like yourself. I watched a presentation on some tech-related things at our teachers’ convention last week, and one of the items mentioned was how Facebook reserves the right to keep your files / information on their servers, even if you delete them. After one of their more recent changes, I also noticed that everything you post with someone – even just what was said in a chat – is retained. A cousin of mine played around with it, as we both didn’t like it, and found that, even if one person deletes a whole conversation, the other person still has a complete record of what was said between them over however many months these things are kept.
It’s a definite shift these days, I think, to cloud storage rather than hard disk or even USB drives, as you said. One way I like this is in the music sector – paying for a monthly service may just get many artists more of the money they are owed than the current system.
Juliana 6:55 pm on October 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
My worry is that in the future things will continue to get worse. In some ways I feel the corporations are controlling us to have a web presence even if we want to or not. I mean try and do anything without the internet these days (ie. banking, paying bills, credit cards etc.). The show “Modern Family” did a very funny episode on this when the family tried to not use any technology for a while.
The worrying part is that each time we do participate in online activities we are giving more and more information that sits on a database somewhere it can soon be accessed and used for who knows what.
Juliana.
andrea 2:09 pm on October 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Juliana, I can relate to your comments about privacy. I also do not have a Facebook account (partly because I think we are in an age of over-sharing, and partly because I don’t want to surrender my photos, conversations and information to Mr. Z.). I was interested in the sections of this presentation on security, because that would be one of my main concerns for cloud computing. Although organizations like Google go to great lengths to protect the information from outside attack, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t collecting and using that information for their own purposes. (I know this sounds really paranoid, but it’s an interesting area for discussion, I think.) This great quote from Kevin Bankston, senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, was in a ComputerWorld article on the topic: “Google knows more about you than your mother.”
Andrea
Juliana 6:19 pm on October 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Nah! I don’t think you are paranoid at all. I think you are correct in that companies are using the information that we are freely giving them for their own purposes. Sometimes we have to if we are to participate with others via the internet or even do some online banking, but I do think it is wise to be choosy in what we choose to share and what we choose to keep private.
Juliana.