Posted on 01/11/2021 9:25:27 AM PST by MercyFlush
I've been in the technology industry for over twenty years and I've seen fads come and go. When I got started in 2000 I oversaw the migration of data from old tape drives to modern 1GB hard drives. Then at my job I oversaw the end of the mainframe and the ascendancy of the PC and server as the new form of decentralized network infrastructure.
From 2001 through to around 2010 the internet and internet access were present in the government agency I work for but most people were prohibited from using it. And if they did their access was strictly limited.
In the space of ten years my agency went from all but prohibiting internet access to mandating it as mission critical. The massive amount of personal and corporate data my agency holds used to be zealously guarded on our own highly secure server farm. Not even our oversight agencies could penetrate our defenses and our access protocols.
Then starting around 2010 that all changed. Outsourcing of internal jobs had already started in earnest despite state laws prohibiting such outsourcing. That led to outside firms having more access to public data than the government agency itself had.
Then upper management started getting courted by the people who came up with the idea of using remote servers to host (and harvest) data in supposedly cheaper server farms. To make this concept palatable to upper management types they gave it a trendy name and called it, "The Cloud".
The Cloud, you see, was a miraculous gift from Jesus Himself and it was going to save humanity, end global warming, cure cancer, and make kittens happy again. Criticism of The Cloud was not permitted. It was an unspeakable heresy to challenge the bureaucratic orthodoxy and point out that The Cloud was simply moving data and services from our servers to someone else's servers.
In due time The Cloud became an unstoppable force. As The Cloud began to dominate the IT landscape the cheap introductory prices started to increase. And over the last few years even the last vestiges of independent network control, on premise Active Directory, was migrated to The Cloud in the form of Microsoft Azure.
We have now reached the place where Microsoft can shut off our access to our own network by disabling our Azure Active Directory. I consider this a massive existential threat to our agency and frankly, if Microsoft is compromised by politics or cybercriminals then almost all services in my state can be brought down within minutes.
I say this now because the first tentative steps are being made by the tech oligarchy to seize the controls of our society and our government. The censorship and shutdown of politically incorrect organizations over the past year is but a foretaste of what can happen.
The tech giants are now in a position to shut down states, cities, police agencies, and to some extent even our military. The recent actions of Amazon Web Services (AWS) prove that these assaults on our sovereignty can be arbitrary and capricious. And I expect it will get worse when the new Marxist regime in Washington DC cheers from the sidelines as the tech giants seize more and more power.
A handful of leftist, globalist tech oligarchs has control of our data and internet and they are right now proving they can't be trusted with such power. If they choose to they can shut down our communications, our power grid, and many other of our utilities such as water supplies. What happens when Microsoft or AWS decides to shut down an entire state because that state refuses to bow down to the leftist mob? What then?
How many individuals now host their data on web services that would all be lost if someone on the left arbitrarily decides to deplatform them? You store your family photographs online? They can be removed from your access. What about your banking? Your passwords? In some cases you could even be denied the use of your 'smart' home or your wifi connected vehicle if the technocrats decide to deny you access.
The AWS attack on Parler should come as a warning to everyone that The Cloud is not and never was the Miracle from Jesus that we were told it was. It is instead a means to effect a coup d'état without needing significant military force. Whole states can be shut down if needed and it can be done in the blink of an eye simply by denying internet access.
Parler has been deplatformed but before this Year of Our Lord 2021 is out I am certain that we shall see individuals deplatformed. I won't be surprised at all if Donald Trump is the first and his companies and his family will find themselves unable to obtain internet access anywhere. Thousands and perhaps millions of Deplorables will then face the same disconnection from the technology so many of us now take for granted.
What's the solution? I hate to say but we need to step back from our collective dependency on a very few technical chokepoints and become data and service independent again.
Our critical government agencies MUST be wholly independent from the political trends of the technocracy. Our personal data and our collective ability to converse with each other MUST NOT be held hostage to people who would demand that we only express politically acceptable views in order to have access to public forums, banking, and etc.
It is now time to move away from our dependence on these tech oligarchs lest we wake up one day and find them our masters. THEY are The Cloud and The Cloud can't be trusted!
I have some family photos stored on Microsoft OneDrive just for ease of access, no matter where I go.
That’s getting shut down today.
Welcome to FR.
I just refused to be drawn up into Google’s or Apple’s cloud. I had to call technical support to suppress the constant demands for my permission to share my stuff into the cloud, but I managed to do it. NO CLOUD for me.
I’m with you. In addition to privacy concerns, I have to “unlink” my PC from OneDrive every single morning on booting up. If I don’t, OneDrive’s continual uploading causes my Internet speeds to be slower than the old-style dial-up modems.
A proper warning and sound advice.
It’s about cutting costs. But when you get right down to it why should anyone believe that the cloud is any more or any less secure than a company’s private network is? So there’s no reason to think that a company’s data is any less secure in the cloud or any more secure in house.
I never understood why so many people thought it was cute to store all their data on somebody else’s computers instead of their own
Thousands and perhaps millions of Deplorables will then face the same disconnection from the technology so many of us now take for granted. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
No loss, We deplorables live in the real world, not in a virtual one.If the Amish can do it, so can we.
What’s the solution?>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Strategically placed plastique at various key infrastructure and junction boxes.
Never used the cloud. Did not trust it EVER. It allows someone else to have control over MY very important stuff. I see the temptation, though.
Same here. Pain in the patooti.
My first reaction, "well DUH!, YA THINK?!??!?"
I don't store any data in the Cloud. Never did on Farcebook, Twatter, or any other social media site.
About 8-10 years ago I saw a technology talk by a guy who started by saying:
“I used to be an Application Service Provider, then I did Software as a Service, and now I do Cloud Computing.”
The room was mostly full of people who’d been around the block a few times, and we cracked up!
I have my data on-site, thank you very much. With off-site backups.
“Strategically placed plastique at various key infrastructure and junction boxes.”
In a shutdown these facilities won’t be working anyway.
“I have my data on-site, thank you very much. With off-site backups.”
Are you depending on Microsoft software to access and use the data? I hope not.
The cloud is just another name for the Internet.
Whether you data is stored locally or on someone else’s server (for example, this post is stored on JimRob’s server in California), if your data routes through the Internet, it is part of the overall cloud infrastructure.
The biggest threat of all is who controls that routing, and can they concentrate their resources to stop your packets because they’re YOUR packets?
Ever since the first financial transaction occurred between two private parties on the Internet, the vulnerability to be shut down from commerce has existed. From that moment more and more business has been done this way, to the point now that trillions would be lost if the Internet was stopped.
Can any one entity stop the entire Internet? Stop the Internet for those they do not like?
How about multiple entities united under the Black and Red flag of totalitarian thought?
democrats in government, government employees from totalitarian states, Google, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Marriot, Citibank, Twitter... et all... are now doing just that.
“Welcome to FR.”
It’s just a new account but thank you! I’ve felt welcome here since 2005!
What about an ISP owned by CNN’s owner, AT&T? Comcast—NBC?
What about GoDaddy’s DNS services? Alphabet Inc’s tentacles are everywhere.
It’s all vulnerable.
Exactly right. If they can pull the rug out from under Parler they can do it to any of us, any business.
Just tried to sign into youtube using brave browser, got a message that the browser “isn’t secure” ? What the heck is that all about?
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