‘The Cloud’ Gives Strangers Access to your Data
According to Paolo Malinverno, IT analyst and VP for Gartner (the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company), “[...]the US Patriot Act 2001, [...] allows Uncle Sam’s officials to ‘look into’ customers’ private data if it’s stored in cloud providers located or incorporated stateside, which many are.”
The above quote is from an article discussing how these issues affect “B2B multi-enterprise integration and processes”. In other words, the growth of the cloud industry is being stunted by this legally mandated lack of security.
What does this mean for the potential cloud market in the US? It means that any cloud services or clients requiring secure data storage are forced to seek solutions outside of the country.
“Only a fifth (20%) of US and European companies would consider or seriously consider putting their most critical applications in public clouds. [Companies...] also showed a reluctance to put applications with customer data in the cloud.”
How much are we looking at?
“[...]the greatest growth surge in cloud migrations in the US will take place among mid-sized corporations, defined as those bringing in between $500 million and $5 billion a year.”
Are we closing the doors an a prospectively huge industry for the sake of cowardice? What ever happened to greed? Please if you’re reading this and you feel so threatened by terrorism that you think poverty is a fair trade for an imagined sense of security, tell me how that isn’t exactly what it means to give in to terrorism. I thought all the 9/11 “NEVER FORGET” stuff was supposed to be about NOT letting terrorists bully us out of our freedoms and prosperity. Was it just a catch phrase? OMG DO YOU HATE 9/11 VICTIMS!? YOU DO! YOU HATE 9/11 VICTIMS AND THERE FAMILIES!!!
Well, sir or madame, I’m afraid I can not stand by one such as you in support of this… this preposterous abortion of an industry!