That 'Cloud Computing' Thing

Lately, I've been hearing the phrase 'cloud computing' pop up more and more often, with many companies practically capitalizing on the term's almost viral success. The Palm Pre boasts a 'WebOS'. Google plans to release a 'cloud OS'. OnLive streams games from the 'cloud' to your computer. With so much hype surrounding the phrase, one might think there's a new religion forming around it.

I am, of course, also interested in this. Cloud computing is an interesting, efficient, and powerful concept. In a nutshell, it means having a server hold storage, run programs, et cetera, said server being accessible from a portable, less powerful computer. Who doesn't like the idea of having massive amounts of storage for media and reliable programs from a cheap, portable computer (such as a netbook, or even an Internet-powered phone). I just don't like how it's being implemented currently.

There are benefits of cloud services. Because there is a company maintaining the services for the customers, it means that bugs can be patched quickly with no interaction necessary from the user. Viruses would be nonexistant. Even if your computer is completely obliterated, you can still access your data from any computer with Internet access. The list goes on and on. But every cloud has a silver lining (and I apologize for such an obvious pun).

Every cloud service is exactly that: a service. You pay a subscription fee to use the server, with only a legal agreement that they will leave your data private. Which they don't fully, by the way. Want proof? Open up an email on your Gmail account, and look at the ads. Then look at the context of the message. Tell me how private you think your messages are.

The main problem is that cloud computing requires people to give up control of their data to a third party; the company that you're paying the service for has total control over the usage of the data you upload to their servers.

On the Internet, privacy is hard to come by. We are tracked by cookies from marketing companies, by IP addresses logged by every website you visit, and 'cloud computing' takes even more privacy away. How willing are you to let your privacy be siphoned off? Is the accessibility of cloud computing worth the lack of privacy for you?