However, I would take issue with the anti-government rant in these postings. Government cannot just demand access - it must follow a due process, which is a very legitimate way of proceeding under most circumstances. Private companies, however, do not have to follow any due process if the code that used in communication is declared as "private property." They can simply pull the plug, or use the information they control any way they see it fit, without asking anyobody's consent.
Which brings us to a broader issue - the anti-government bias and deference to private corporations that seems common in the computer geekdom. It seems strange that seemingly smart people do not know any better.
Wojtek
On Wed, Dec 2, 2009 at 6:39 PM, shag carpet bomb <shag at cleandraws.com>wrote:
> at another list, one of the crankier list members likes to call cloud
> computing "data hostage computing". ha.
>
> someone recently posted to say: it gets worse.
>
> http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=27935&tag=nl.e539
> Pondering a rogue cloud; Will platform providers cave to business,
> government interests?
> Posted by Larry Dignan @ 5:01 am
>
>
> Updated: Harvard law professor Jonathan Zittrain plays the contrarian when
> it comes to cloud computing: Is the cloud really the backbone of the future
> we want?
>
> Zittrain's talk, delivered at the Supernova conference in San Francisco,
> highlighted one of the biggest rubs with the cloud: We're all slaves to a
> tethered device that frankly won't be worth much without cloud computing.
> Consumers trade some freedoms and trust vendors to make decisions for us in
> exchange for ease of use. And sometimes these vendors will cave to demands
> from governments and other groups.
>
> Don't buy it? Consider:
> Christopher Soghoian, a graduate student at Indiana University, has caused
> a stir. Why? He reckons that "the shift to cloud computing needlessly
> exposes users to privacy invasion and fraud by hackers." He also notes that
> Sprint has handed received 8 million law enforcement GPS requests in a year.
> The Kindle is a tethered appliance that delivers what Amazon wants you to
> see. And Amazon will cave to publishers on a text-to-speak feature.
> Who can forget that 1984 incident on the Kindle? Simply put, Amazon can
> tweak your content. (Zittrain based his presentation on Amazon as CTO Werner
> Vogels sat and listened).
> Apple tells you which apps are good for you. An Android eye application?
> Nope. How about app called Freedom Time that mocked George W. Bush? Nope.
> The list goes on and on.
> The FBI can go to OnStar and force the company to put a microphone in the
> back of a car on to track a suspected perp.
>
> <...>
>
> --
> http://cleandraws.com
> Wear Clean Draws
> ('coz there's 5 million ways to kill a CEO)
>
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>