

Let’s stop the NSA before it destroys the cloud industry - ghosh
http://venturebeat.com/2013/08/20/lets-stop-the-nsa-before-it-destroys-the-cloud-industry/

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fragsworth
It's really not possible anymore. Everyone has lost their trust in the U.S.
government, to the extent that even if a high-ranking official makes a claim
(e.g. "We do not spy on you"), you _can no longer believe them_.

The same can be said for U.S. companies, since they are given secret gag
orders that they aren't allowed to mention, that also tell the companies what
lies to say.

There's no going back. If you care at all about keeping information from your
competitors, government, or anyone else who might get their hands on it, you
need to host it physically on your own local internal network. No cloud.

~~~
alfiejohn_
This.

When the Patriot Act was passed, there were a lot of European companies who
were very skeptical about DHS/NSA snooping on their data. Now we've got solid
proof that it's happening.

Regardless of what the US does now, people have lost faith. They can interpret
the definition of words in the law so that what they do (which seem
immoral/illegal/wrong to us) is in fact legal.

What the US can't control is purchasing power. Companies outside of the US are
looking inwards again. AWS/Rackspace clouds look great, but you're bending
yourself and your customers over, and the NSA didn't even buy you dinner.

The US cloud is toast.

~~~
res0nat0r
Actually Gartner would disagree. We are near the end of the Hype Cycle and
enterprises who were once skeptical about the security and risks of the cloud
have recently begun embracing it. They pretend this trend is set to continue
in the fuTure. The current NSA talk might make some weary but the US cloud is
in no way toast.

Sorry I don't have a link to the Gartner report about the current state of
adoption I'm referencing.

~~~
fragsworth
The cloud isn't dead for end-user applications (e.g. entertainment, video,
music, games) but it is completely destroyed for any B2B applications.

Enterprises that are providing services to customers will continue using cloud
services _for their customers_ , because they'll probably get the NSA
shakedowns anyway.

If you are using cloud services for proprietary development, research, and
general employee workflow (e.g. Office 365, Google Docs, Gmail, and similar
services) then there's a good chance you're making a big mistake.

~~~
yuhong
If the data you are storing in them actually matters enough to care about the
spying.

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ck2
You are about a decade too late.

NSA has virtually unlimited funds now, what congressperson is going to defund
them and risk the blame for the next incident.

If 60TB HAMR drives become a reality this decade to replace the 4TB per drive
limit, they will archive the entire internet for decades until they can decode
it. Why not since it costs them nothing, it's "only" taxpayer dollars and the
taxpayers aren't worth saving unless they can know every detail about their
existance.

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molecule
_If you want a picture of what the business climate looks like in a country
without a rich regard for freedom and privacy, just look at Russia. That
country... has imprisoned millions of entrepreneurs over the past 10 years._

Not that Russia is a pillar of freedom or privacy, but _millions of
entrepreneurs_ seems a bit hyperbolic:

    
    
        Prison population total
        (including pre-trial detainees / remand prisoners)
        686,200
        at 1.7.2013 (national prison administration)
    

[http://www.prisonstudies.org/info/worldbrief/wpb_country.php...](http://www.prisonstudies.org/info/worldbrief/wpb_country.php?country=118)

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mvkel
A sensational article.

Let's say 'cloud' goes the way of the dodo. What's the alternative that is NSA
proof? The only thing I can land on is building and hosting one's own apps.

Do you really see consumers rolling their own email servers so the NSA can't
access them?

Cloud apps are as important as the content stored on them, the vast majority
being benign.

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res0nat0r
I haven't heard any of the current customers I've dealt with even utter
anything related to the NSA changing their minds at all about the cloud. Most
companies that are even considering moving their infra offsite to a 3rd party
have already vetted the risk/reward value prop and accepted the risks. Much of
the articles and talk like this don't factor in to that decision; assuming a
slight risk that a 3rd party can access your data was already signed off as
acceptable when moving offsite, NSA or not.

~~~
Tezro
Decision making takes a long time in any bigger company. Changes often take
month to years before implementation starts. I guess, the business effects of
the US/worldwide internet spying will not be visible right now, but in a few
months or years.

~~~
res0nat0r
My argument above is that companies that have decided to move to the cloud,
NSA or not, have already signed off on the fact that it is worth the risk to
allow possible 3rd party access. The new discussion about the NSA doesn't
affect that decision.

