Wired magazine has recently been making a big deal out of cloud computing. This is the movement of data, resources and even software onto the servers of companies like Google and Yahoo that makes it possible for us to access our data wherever we go. The way Wired magazine puts it, our information and our data resources are moving into the „Internet cloud.“ That makes it sound so airy and free, when, in reality, what’s happening is our information is moving into these huge server farms that are privately owned and controlled. They’re not cloudy; they’re these huge constructions that Google is building along the Columbia River Gorge. Once we put our data there, it can be sorted, aggregated, mined. It becomes a huge treasure trove of information that these commercial organizations have control over and that very likely, the government is going to become increasingly interested in.
Mark Andrejevic, Autor des Buches iSpy – Surveillance and Power in the Interactive Era im Interview mit AlterNet
