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Who Owns Application Delivery Meta-Data In the Cloud?

Random Feature writes "The Cloud Computing Interoperability Forum (CCIF) is currently discussing cloud portability specifications. It seems crazy to define a standard before we even know who owns what in the cloud because you can only port what you own. For example, if you created a security or acceleration policy for your cloud computing-based app, is the policy yours or the provider's? Who owns meta-data in the cloud?" True portability between clouds seems to hang on the answer.

67 comments

  1. frist ps0t by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    TROLL

    1. Re:frist ps0t by Yetihehe · · Score: 2, Funny

      I have never seen post content so insightful in relation to it's title.

      --
      Extreme Programming - Redundant Array of Inexpensive Developers
  2. Who owns it? by davester666 · · Score: 1

    Why, the "group of industry stakeholders" does. Sure you can port it from one to another, but you'll have to pay to leave your current provider to switch to another one...unless the other one gives them a kickback.

    Under no circumstances do you own your data. You just license it.

    --
    Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    1. Re:Who owns it? by davester666 · · Score: 1

      er... "own your metadata"...

      You still own all your data, unless the provider happens to have a security breakdown, and posts your data to the intertubes for all to see.

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    2. Re:Who owns it? by arogier · · Score: 1

      Ah, but the fights over actual data get played out all the time. The results from those fights are almost predictable. So the next fight must be over the metadata, the data describing the data. Especially considering how many times the metafight over the fight for ownership of the data has already been played.

    3. Re:Who owns it? by jo42 · · Score: 1

      If a server BSODs 'in the cloud', will there be anyone there to see it?

    4. Re:Who owns it? by Thinboy00 · · Score: 1

      whoosh.

      --
      $ make available
    5. Re:Who owns it? by e2d2 · · Score: 1

      I thought ownership was to be OUTLAWED by the WTO?! This will not stand man. This issue will not stand.

  3. article not very good by stephanruby · · Score: 3, Informative

    The article was not very clear, plus Joyent was a lousy example to use. Joyent has big names associated with it, because it was started by many well-known independent developers, but it's actually pretty unreliable as far as most hosts are concerned.

  4. I'm sure the Blogosphere can answer that. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Or you could leverage some synergistic paradigms or something.

    Christ, is there a bee in the room or what?

    1. Re:I'm sure the Blogosphere can answer that. by CarpetShark · · Score: 1

      Well said :)

  5. Medical Data by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The ownership of medical data is a huge problem with providers (even though HIPPA is out there). If you really press techs with start medical record providers, the attitude is simply that the data is theirs.

    1. Re:Medical Data by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      The ownership of medical data is a huge problem with providers (even though HIPPA is out there). If you really press techs with start medical record providers, the attitude is simply that the data is theirs

      I have worked in the medical computing industry, and I agree that you are right. On the other hand, "we" (being my ex-employer) wouldn't say that we "own" the data, but we are "caretakers" for it. In some sense, that makes it "our" data. We will not share it with others, unless they are HIPAA compliant (and we have a HIPAA compliant reason to give it). And we will secure it as if it was our own private, important, secret data.

      Personally, as an ex-employee of a HIPAA compliant company, I don't see much of a problem in this regard.

    2. Re:Medical Data by rainmayun · · Score: 1

      As a matter of law, the health care provider typically owns the record, although as with many things it is governed by state law and so may vary.

      http://www.med.yale.edu/caim/risk/handbook/rmh_medical_record2.html
      http://www.medbd.ca.gov/consumer/complaint_info_questions_records.html

      Personally, I think this is a point of law that needs to be changed at the federal level. But then, I also think that there should be a privacy amendment to the US constitution.

  6. so... what is the meta data, exactly? by Animaether · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm a complete n00b when it comes to 'cloud computing', but given that the article (behind the 2nd link) starts out to explain that nobody's really sure what 'cloud computing' is just yet, I guess I can't help but shrug at that fact.

    I did try to read through the thinly-veiled press release article, but at the end... I'm still unsure what the meta data is.

    Say I have a 'cloud computing' app that is uhh.. a bouncing ball. Yes, it shows on the screen of the app user a bouncing ball. That'll do.

    Now that app is mine. I can take it from one provider to another (assuming they run the same apps - I suppose a standard would have to define that).
        Now let's say the provider has options to, say, limit access to that app to a certain IP range. Certainly that's meta-data, right? It's not inherent to the app, it's not crucial to the app's workings, it's just additional data related to the app. Is that data mine? I would certainly say so. I go into the provider's control panel, hit 'limit access', enter the IP addresses... I don't think they can claim that the data I entered is now suddenly the provider's to own, and taking that particular meta-data from that provider and to another provider (presuming they have a limit-by-ip thing) shouldn't be any trouble. Again, a standard may apply here for some common tasks/options and exporting this to a common file format (and I really don't care if that's plaintext, XML, a BLOB or whatever - as long as everybody can read/write them) so it can be imported by another provider would be nice.
        But the article seems to be about a bunch of people -at the provider- having a peek at your app and making tweaks in their own 'cloud' to make your app be delivered faster, be delivered more securely, etc. I fail to see how -that- meta-data is yours to own. The 'cloud' isn't yours, the tweaks made to the cloud aren't yours, etc. So maybe you paid them to make those optimizations, great, so pay the people at the other provider to make changes too. That's one of the perils of changing providers / relying on their tweaks in any such business.
        I don't think that not having that meta-data breaks portability, though - it just means your app may not be delivered as fast, or as securely.. your problem for choosing an inferior 'cloud computing' provider.

    But, again, maybe one of those 'industry moguls' in the arena of cloud computing can explain what the problem actually seems to be.

    1. Re:so... what is the meta data, exactly? by stephanruby · · Score: 1

      But, again, maybe one of those 'industry moguls' in the arena of cloud computing can explain what the problem actually seems to be.

      The problem is that some guy at Joyent, probably one of the numerous co-owners, thought that their service was being seen as a commodity (which is not true by the way, you can't be seen as a commodity if your service is down all the time). So he wrote an article saying: no, no, we're not a commodity, we're 10% faster, we're 20% more secure, pppphhhllllllllleeeazzzeeeee don't leave us!!!!

    2. Re:so... what is the meta data, exactly? by kumma · · Score: 1

      'cloud computing' is hype and a buzzword which is used to obtain credibility, money and publicity. people love to read scifi-like things and the use of such weird words feed that. I would not say that everything that is done under that label is stupid though.

    3. Re:so... what is the meta data, exactly? by KeithJM · · Score: 1

      How about this -- If you want to know something about your clients (geographical location, how often they use your app, how many times do people have to use it before you can be 80% sure they'll become regular users, how long does that take if you give them a free trial, etc) you need data that your provider probably owns. Also, the app provider may have a way to add value to those pure numbers (they might be able to tell you averages for "bouncing X apps" before you even deploy) based on existing apps. That data has value to you and to other people.

    4. Re:so... what is the meta data, exactly? by Stu+Charlton · · Score: 1

      My honest read of the article is:
      - cloud interoperability is important (as you say -- XML, BLOB, plaintext, whatever interface is agreed on, though there's a longer discussion about the implications of what you choose on adoption)
      - yet there's a "race to the bottom" of creating a lowest common denominator, looking at very complex things like networking equipment, firewalls and load balancers as mere commodities, when in fact they're pretty complicated.
      - most of the cloud interoperability discussion is driving for a "high level interface" for developers to access, when what you need is a much more detailed set of metadata to be able to capture the rather more complicated tweaks & configurations.

      Interestingly enough, there's already some standards for granular metadata in data centres, like the DMTF's CIM. The problem is that this was more designed to "set state" on storage arrays, switches, and servers, not to be used as "metadata" that is stored and traded around, maybe modified and collaborated on, etc.

      --
      -Stu
    5. Re:so... what is the meta data, exactly? by SanityInAnarchy · · Score: 1

      Now let's say the provider has options to, say, limit access to that app to a certain IP range. Certainly that's meta-data, right? It's not inherent to the app, it's not crucial to the app's workings, it's just additional data related to the app.

      Yes, I'd assume that's what they're talking about.

      And depending on the particular cloud, I'd say it's definitely yours. Say you're on Amazon EC2 -- your entire access to the cloud is going to be through an API. While it's worth reading the agreements, I think you could safely claim that if you wrote a script that generated these particular security policies, and booted this particular configuration of servers, that the script, at least, is your property.

      a standard may apply here for some common tasks/options and exporting this to a common file format (and I really don't care if that's plaintext, XML, a BLOB or whatever

      The closest thing to a standard right now is Amazon's API, mainly because it's the only one I know has at least two independent implementations -- one at Amazon, and one open source version.

      But the article seems to be about a bunch of people -at the provider- having a peek at your app and making tweaks in their own 'cloud' to make your app be delivered faster, be delivered more securely, etc. I fail to see how -that- meta-data is yours to own.

      True. But I don't see how that meta-data is crucial, either. If the new provider isn't capable of tweaking things fast enough, migrate the app slowly. You do have a shared-nothing architecture, right?

      I would say, look at the URL of that second article -- F5. Now, start thinking about motivation. Why would F5 want to play up this particular aspect?

      --
      Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
    6. Re:so... what is the meta data, exactly? by SanityInAnarchy · · Score: 1

      'cloud computing' is hype and a buzzword which is used to obtain credibility, money and publicity.

      That's true. It would be very helpful if it was more clearly defined...

      Then again, that hasn't stopped other hypey buzzwords from taking over. Look at AJAX. All the technology was there already, but once we gave it a name, people started thinking about the effect of those pieces as a whole.

      I would not say that everything that is done under that label is stupid though.

      The question is, can you take those things which are done under that label and give them a better label? If you were to talk about "Utility computing" instead of "Cloud computing", would more people understand you (or at least pretend to)?

      I think that determines the value of a term. Can it be replaced?

      --
      Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
    7. Re:so... what is the meta data, exactly? by kylemonger · · Score: 1

      'cloud computing' is hype and a buzzword which is used to obtain credibility, money and publicity.

      That's true. It would be very helpful if it was more clearly defined...

      How about we call it "timesharing". There are a bunch of servers running your jobs instead of big iron, but the concept is the same.

  7. Welcome to the 70ies by DUdsen · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Since there isn't a cloud it's all nonsense, there's a good old fashioned mainframe operator and a customer using the system the law and contracting models for those was laid down in the 70ies and just because the 3270 have given way to the AJAX enabled browser and everyone is talking community we don't have a different situation.

    Stop treating the cloud as if it was something unknown and start realising how much it's just the successor to the mainframe and thing stats making sense.

    1. Re:Welcome to the 70ies by aix+tom · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Yep. It's basically the same principle from a technology point of view.

      The difference is that 90% of mainframe users understood at least the basic principles of the technology they needed.

      These days you can't just sell or rent people the technology they need, you have to wrap it in marketing speech and buzzwords so that they get clouds of happy smoke, too. ;-P

      And the "application metadata" they talk about in the article basically just looks like the thing that is done during "installation" on traditional system. E.g. "tuning" the cloud so that the application runs smoothly and securely looks basically just like creating the right users with the right permissions and right ulimits and setting up various parameters of the OS correctly when you install an traditional application on a traditional OS.

      So it would seem, if the creator of the application also writes the stuff that is needed to install the application, whether it's a traditional "install script" or "application meta-data" happy smoke, then it is his.

      When he doesn't know how to do it and asks the provider to install and tweak his application, then that additional metadata belongs to the providers, and the provider shouldn't have to give that away for free.

    2. Re:Welcome to the 70ies by kaiidth · · Score: 1

      Amen. Seriously.

      The urge for the computer industry to reinvent itself every ten or twenty years ('new words for old! new words for old!') is presumably something to do with the urge to foster that appealing sense of mystique that means that businesses are never quite sure what, if anything, they're spending money on. But the Cloud is a particularly silly example.

      The ownership of metadata in general has been fought out in various arenas -- who owns what, who gets to transform it and all that are discussed to death in the area of library science, for example. The net result is usually that we all argue ourselves to a standstill and then some damn pragmatist just turns up and solves the whole thing by ignoring the philosophical side of the issue entirely and building stuff that works. Search engines are the classic example of this.

      If there's one piece of advice that the cloud people should keep in mind (and many do - not their fault that they're infested with bloggers) it's don't spend your life farting around with airy fairy questions and delightfully fuzzy nomenclature, and do something useful - leave the pseudo-philosophy to the bloggers. Sorry - but I work on the edge of this industry and there are times, usually in front of the tenth powerpoint presentation of the week, that beating the speaker to death with the conference goodie bag seems like the only ethical option.

    3. Re:Welcome to the 70ies by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Question: Who owns X in the cloud?

      Answer: You don't - whatever X is. You don't own or control the app. You don't own or control the data. You don't own shit. It's not yours, it's the IT company's and you pay to use it for a bit. If you don't pay, they pull the plug. If it stops working, you might be able to sue but that won't stop your business getting flushed in the meantime.

      Cloud computing is a fantastically stupid idea for anyone other than big IT companies who dream about the sort of control it gives them - see also: Trusted Computing and TPMs.

    4. Re:Welcome to the 70ies by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      In Soviet Russia gnnnnnn... metadata in the cloud must ... resist [faints]

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    5. Re:Welcome to the 70ies by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      'new words for old! new words for old!'

      Just to start the ball rolling:

      High capacity application server = mainframe.
      Thin client = dumb terminal.
      Colo = DP bureau.

      Any more?

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    6. Re:Welcome to the 70ies by ukemike · · Score: 1

      I read it a different way. I suspect the PP is correct but I was thinking things like document file names, file save times, file size, who accessed the file. Those sorts of metadata could be very sensitive and contentious in a legal case if the document in question is say an incriminating memo.

      --
      -- QED
    7. Re:Welcome to the 70ies by That's+Unpossible! · · Score: 1

      You're talking about the abstract sense of 'the cloud.'

      But in reality, cloud computing is more about having (effectively) unlimited resources available to you: unlimited CPU, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited memory, unlimited disk space. You can scale up, and you typically pay only for what you're using.

      Now, we know you don't REALLY have unlimited resources, but the numbers are so high, and the cloud-computing companies are doing pretty well at providing an extremely high upper end, that you can pretend that you do (or at least, most companies can).

      This allows you to do things in a different way. You can stop worrying about certain limitations, like 'what do I do when I have a million users,' because if you engineer things for the cloud, it's not the same kind of concern that it used to be.

      That's cloud computing. And no, it's not really anything like a mainframe and a dumb terminal from the 70s.

      --
      Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
  8. Car analogy? by TheCybernator · · Score: 1

    Say I have a 'cloud computing' app that is uhh.. a bouncing ball. Yes, it shows on the screen of the app user a bouncing ball. That'll do.

    I would prefer racing cars over bouncing ball.

  9. Re:Infrastructure solutions beta, trail and res ki by myspace-cn · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I guess I was being sarcastic, but really ask yourself what did you agree to when you installed, or bought a monthly seat, or VLK? You agreed you sign your life away basically. But I see the discussion goes on who owns the meta-data for an app, I would have to say the security policy owns it. I shut your fucking port off, you no longer deliver your app. The rest doesn't matter. You don't like the provider, get lost.

  10. Whoever has the biggest ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    team of lawyers

  11. boring by ramul · · Score: 3, Funny

    This is the most boring slashdot submission ive seen Zzzzz. So i've decided to jazz it up with a few emoticons..

    ^_^ japanese cartoon :) standard smiley (not very edgy any more)
    >_> - - - - - c[_] guy staring at coffee mug

     

    1. Re:boring by X0563511 · · Score: 1

      Looks more like he's staring away from the coffee cup. Either that, or the coffee cup just got a "HEAD SHOT!"

      --
      For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
  12. Brent Spiner by auric_dude · · Score: 1

    As meta data is derived from data does this mean that Brent Spiner it or just that in the Cloud, the Quadrant or the whole universe?

    1. Re:Brent Spiner by MarkWatson · · Score: 1

      That is funny - I would mod you up if I had the points.

  13. Paradigm Shift by WiiWii · · Score: 1

    Intellectual property is a thing of the past. To consider this technology with that perspective is to take 10 steps backwards. A better question would be how representative is the sample that constitutes the cloud of various regional or national scales. To reach the most interested potential consumers would be to provide this usage data to companies providing services at these levels. To use such an archaic model in managing this type of technology would be highly ineffective. Business really needs to catch up how they structure their services to keep up with emerging technologies.

  14. What rubbish nothing else to write about? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seriously its like asking who owns a .BAT file. You guys need some real content. Try taking some more user submissions.

  15. Why ownership? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why does anyone have to "own" data at all? Seriously, it's wholly unclear to me that the notion of data being something you can own even makes sense.

    Data may be copyrighted under certain circumstances, of course, but that doesn't amount to ownership, and those circumstances are reasonably narrow, anyway - for example, there has to be a creative component involved, and of course, copyright is a means to achieve an end (namely, to ensure cultural progress), anyway.

    The same goes for patents, trademarks, trade dress, trade secrets and so on: all of these have specific limitations, specific goals, and specific circumstances under which they can apply (or not apply).

    Owning "application-delivery cloud-computing meta-data" seems tantamount to "owning" facts.

  16. Cloud? Metadata? WTF? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who are these douchebags?

  17. Greetings, Friend by Hal_Porter · · Score: 1, Troll

    My name is Anne Umbongo. I am the widow of deposed African Dictator Umbongo Umbongo. Before he lost power my husband owned application delivery meta data in the cloud, which he acquired after a Russian businessman had an unfortunate accident. He intended to display it as a trophy outside his palace in his new capital of Umbongonia which he was building in the desert with funds from the UN, EU etc.

    I will sell you application delivery meta data in the cloud for a good price!

    --
    echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
  18. WTF is "cloud computing", anyway? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is it anything else than a supposedly sexy buzz word for what's essentially used to be "mainframe"+Internet?

  19. Wait till cloud 2.0 comes out by edittard · · Score: 3, Insightful

    But the Cloud is a particularly silly example.

    the whole thing is quite literally a nebulous concept.

    --
    At the bottom of the /. main page it says 'Yesterday's News'. Well they got that right.
  20. Knowing the answer .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the fscking butler did it again!

  21. Who cares? by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    Who cares who owns thingummyjig whatever-it-was in the cloud?

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  22. Re:Infrastructure solutions beta, trail and res ki by X0563511 · · Score: 1

    Um, while his first post was offtopic crap, this one isn't.

    Please fix this, mods.

    I'll quote the important part to make it easy for you:

    But I see the discussion goes on who owns the meta-data for an app, I would have to say the security policy owns it. I shut your fucking port off, you no longer deliver your app. The rest doesn't matter. You don't like the provider, get lost.

    --
    For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
  23. Did I miss the memo? by millennial · · Score: 1

    Maybe it's just me, but I have no clue what 'the cloud' is.

    --
    I am scientifically inaccurate.
    1. Re:Did I miss the memo? by SysArchBR · · Score: 1

      That I can answer: 'the cloud' is that big white or grey thing flying in the sky... if it's getting darker, run to a shelter, it'll rain...

      What? The people here are talking about other kind of cloud?

      Hmmmm... maybe I should buy some new books...

  24. Portability? We dn't need no stink'in portability by MarkWatson · · Score: 1

    Seriously, are we talking about portability between services like Amazon Web Services and Google App Engine? Why? They offer different platforms, capabilities, and support different application spaces. (BTW, AWS rocks!)

    On the other hand, I insist on a migration path off of a cloud service: not too much trouble with AWS because you install whatever you want on their servers, and you could lease alternative servers (but loose support for Simple Storage Service, Simple Queue Service, etc.). So yes, if you really buy into all of Amazon's infrastructure, moving to your own servers would be real work. That said, Amazon is a stable company and they keep reducing their prices.

    I have worked through a Google App Engine tutorial by running their development kit locally, but I really don't have any practical experience with it. In principle, you could move a small web app from Google App Engine hosting to your own server, but you would obviously lose the instance scalability, and be running their data store in a one server emulation mode.

  25. Who owns the data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Micro$oft. All your data is belong to us. Please don't read the EULAs.

  26. It's just configuration data! by unixan · · Score: 1

    There's usually no inherent copyright (or other legal) interest in configuration of an ADC (application delivery controller) than there is in the configuration of the routers or switches that inhabit the very same network environment. (An exception to this would be script programming, but I've encountered very few copyright claims regarding ADC scripting.)

    Now, if a customer doesn't have their own ADC but does have a vital interest in being able to our-live the relationship with their provider, obviously they should either:

    1. Design the ADC configuration themselves and have the provider put it in place, or
    2. Allow the provider to design the configuration but require that they export (or at least allow access to) the configuration data.

    Disclaimer: I work for an ADC manufacturer, although I have no relationship to a provider or customer.

    --
    This signature intentionally left unblank.
  27. Hey, this one is simple - by BigGerman · · Score: 1

    Whoever understands what the hell "Application Delivery Meta-Data in the Cloud" is, owns it.

  28. why does that matter? by DragonTHC · · Score: 1

    why does anyone have to own that?

    It's necessary to all interested parties. Why can't it be freely available to all who need it and secret from those who don't?

    --
    They're using their grammar skills there.
    1. Re:why does that matter? by nsaneinside · · Score: 1

      It's the western mentality.
      "Hey, does this belong to anyone?"
      -> "It's mine."
      "Oh. ...Can I use it?"
      -> "No, because it's mine and I might want to use it. And besides, you might break it."
      "Oh."

      Ownership is one of the core concepts of western culture.

  29. Enough razzle dazzle already! by thethibs · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The Cloud is aptly named. I've read TFA and several levels of links from there and I'm no more informed than when I woke up this morning.

    "Portability" is a concept, not a thing, so these folk need to explain what it is they want to port. "Metadata" isn't an answer. Metadata is data about data, so what data about what data about which phenomena are they talking about?

    The other thing I'd like to know is, in what way is "the Cloud" distinct from a distributed server architecture, or what was once called a network application framework?

    --
    I'm a Programmer. That's one level above Software Engineer and one level below Engineer.
  30. "Cloud" by Luscious868 · · Score: 1

    The word cloud in this context is a stupid buzz word that we can all do without.

  31. Not quite the same. by SanityInAnarchy · · Score: 1

    I agree -- we could use a little less hype. But, this sentence alone:

    just because the 3270 have given way to the AJAX enabled browser and everyone is talking community we don't have a different situation.

    Actually, that really does.

    A dumb terminal, or even a relatively smart terminal, is nowhere near the capabilities of a programmable modern browser. And that's before you factor in things like Google Gears, allowing you to take the same application offline.

    So, technically, it is better.

    Then there's the fact that you'd be foolish not to provide an API -- in fact, a good REST API will probably be easy to develop both web/AJAX and other clients. I somehow doubt that your application running on an IBM mainframe would be exposing services to other mainframes, perhaps even selling access.

    As Mark Twain said, history doesn't repeat itself. It rhymes.

    start realising how much it's just the successor to the mainframe and thing stats making sense.

    What does that have to do with the context of this article, by the way? Or are you saying there's something in how mainframes answered the question of "ownership" that we should be considering?

    --
    Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
  32. Yours or your providers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Read your TOS for the site. I would expect anything you develop is yours, but that's the risk of outsourcing stuff you probably should run yourself -- the "cloud" provider could claim ownership over everything.

              And, independent from actual terms of service or contract, also realize anything you don't have on-site, you don't necessarily have. Companies DO fold, or just decide "hey this service isn't profitable, it's now shut down", or have unbelievable lack of backups.

              There've been examples recently... not actual "cloud" services (or maybe they are, the term is so vague...) but examples that you should have a copy of your data...

              1) Company split in two, the two halves bickered so much over who actually owned the data that they could not put it online so the "owners" could get a copy. It's still on disks and tape somewhere but is good as gone.

              2) I forget the site, but some site with like 80,000 users closed recently because, after *8* years, they had not made ONE backup.. death through disk crash.

              3) Several of the free web site services closed with little to no notice. No you cannot get your site back.

              Just for 3 examples.

  33. Who owns application delivery meta-data in the clo by cjacobs001 · · Score: 1

    I did not read all previous posts, but, wOw!!?? Everyone who is concerned about the incidence of identity theft, and or fraud, and or the use of YOUR own personal information by an unauthorized person or organization who uses that information against you, or in such a manner that the result of their use\manipulation of YOUR data hurts you or your desires and or goals, especially financially, knows that we should secure all information not intentionally placed by YOU into the public domain, including its metadata. Because the information about YOU can be used both -for- and -against- YOU, and FOR someone elses benefit at YOUR expense, those individuals or organizations that you share your information with need to be accountable for the -use- and security of YOUR information to ensure that it is not used in any manner not consistent with your desires when you shared it with them for YOUR benefit. â"You do not, usually, intend that when you fill-in the required blanks to get a free offering over the internet, a white paper or something, that your information is OR CAN BE then sold to or obtained by any one else FOR THEIR BENEFIT, or to your detriment. I believe that ultimately we can and will accomplish this, however, -waiting for technology to solve this- is not, and can not, get us there. If we want to experience this in our lifetime, each user has to take responsibility for the steps necessary to ensure this, with all of the data s\he comes into contact with. Basically, the purposes for -computing in the cloud- would be for lower costs or for greater\easier access, or both. We havent yet secured the information in our own house, why does anyone think we can do it any better in the cloud? Determining ownership of information and\or its meta-data -in the cloud- would enable finger-pointing when the inevitable happens, but since we know its going to happen with the current user-enabled approach to data security, does it make any difference who we point the finger at? -Just rereading the title as I am posting I see the title is "...application delivery meta-data..." which is not the same thing as document meta-data; it would be the meta-data created as a result of the delivery of the application to you through the cloud. hmmmm -lemme think about the consequences of others learning that you are computing in the cloud . . . hmmm . . .they would know that it is much harder for you to claim that the information\data that you have or are offering is confidential, or authentic, or available. My .02. carry on

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    cjacobs001
  34. Cloud eh? by arndawg · · Score: 0

    I'm pretty sure that ceiling cat owns everything in the cloud.

  35. It is all in the data by dataquality · · Score: 1

    I do not really care where the app sits, my computer, your computer, their computer on the ground or in the clouds but I really care about "my data". If the metadata belongs to the app provider they are a "joint owner" of my data - ouch. I am happy to pay license fees to whoever provides the app I am using at the time but I want to keep my data separate from the app. Portable data is the way to go after all it will be around a lot longer than the app - users need to require that the apps they use can export ISO 8000-110:2008 quality data.