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FTC Worries About Consumers, Cloud Data, and Privacy

Posted by samzenpus on from the what-worries-the-worriers dept.

pcause writes "Ars Techina has a nice article about the FTC's concern that consumers don't understand the implications of storing their data in the cloud. From the article: 'Data is now sitting on servers outside of your control, where it can be accessed far more easily by Google itself, hackers, and law enforcement than it ever could if kept within the device. Once data passes over the network, it gets much easier to access in realtime; once it is stored on a remote server, it gets much easier to access at any time. And those are just the phone settings. Google also has access to search history data, anything stored in Google Docs or Spreadsheets, complete schedules stored in Google Calendar, and recent Maps searches. Combine them all, and companies like Google become one-stop shops for authorities looking for personal information.' Do you think the average consumer even has a clue about this issue?"

4 of 175 comments (clear)

  1. No. by Rossman · · Score: 5, Informative

    "Do you think the average consumer even has a clue about this issue?" No. And they don't care, and can't be made to care.

  2. Re:They can know about you, do you know about them by truthsearch · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A lot less people have (legal) access to my house than Google's servers. Maybe you live in a commune, but I don't!

    --
    Developers: We can use your help.
  3. I'm starting to feel old. by starbugs · · Score: 5, Interesting

    With our lives stored on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc. does today's younger generation even appreciate/want privacy?

    Everyone knows who your friends are, what movies you like, that your cereal this morning looked like a smiley-face until your dog knocked it over.

    Is our view of privacy outdated?

  4. Re:They can know about you, do you know about them by hallux.sinister · · Score: 5, Funny
    Ouch!

    Actually, even if they have access to the terminal, they may not have access to the data if you have separate logins... of course, I tried something like this with my ex, once; it didn't work out real well. Separate computers turned out to be easier.

    Of course, this only works if you're running a real OS. If you use Misro$oft Win/DOS, well, best of luck.

    Even if your SO insists on having access to your user account and password, unless she's *NIX savvy you can always bury stuff in /usr/local/bin/whatever_arcane_sounding_subdirectory, make root the owner, and set permissions to rwx------.

    If you're really worried, put the data on a separate partition, and use /etc/fstab to keep it from mounting, make an alias from the mount command to a shellscript that quietly wipes that partition, and overwrites it with garbage, unless you mount it with the correct alternate command...

    Yeah, guess I'm a little paranoid.

    ~Hal

    If you're worried about your privacy, don't forget to rm -rf /home/[username]/.macromedia everytime you logout.