As Joni Mitchell would have it …..“rows and flows of angel hair, and ice cream castles in the air, and feathered canyons everywhere, I’ve looked at clouds that way……….
I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now, from up and down, and still somehow, it’s clouds illusions I recall. I really don’t know clouds…at all”
“I really don’t know clouds…at all “summarises my view.
On the one hand vendors say “put your data up into the cloud, and all will be well” – which equals “ice cream castles in the air”.
On the other the “cloud” is just a few bits of string linking a few server racks with hard drives in them.
Usually the reality is somewhere between, but the two extremes suggest some issues to be considered at least.
First, you need to be connected to the interweb to get to the cloud – all very well in a well connected part of the world but in some part of the UK such access at any reasonable speed can be a big ask.
Second, it will probably help you to know where your data is kept. Some of the big vendors move their data around the globe to follow the sun ( and the peak load by users). So if you do not want your data to go there you really need to say so.
The UK ICO says;
“From a data protection point of view it is important to remember that organisations using these services might not store the personal data they are responsible for on their own equipment. Therefore they often can’t be certain where the personal data is being processed and by whom. Clearly, this raises compliance issues that those using internet-based computing need to address.
Organisations using an internet-based service must not relinquish control of the personal data they have collected, or expose it to security risks that would not have arisen had the data remained in their possession in the UK. To overcome this problem a written contract should be in place.
It is also good practice to encrypt the data before it is transferred to the online services company. This should render the data useless to any hackers and snoopers without the key, regardless of the jurisdiction it is in or who is processing it. “
Thirdly, look at the business continuity issues. Many users of Gmail, as pointed out by our consultant Steve Cassidy, lost their accounts – wiped at the end of February 2011. So take care about who actually owns your data and where it is copied or backed up to.
Generally we are always happy to advise – details on the “contact us” page.
