Two things:

1. - I have trouble believing anything connected to the Internet is safe and secure, especially from someone who knows what they're doing and wants to access it. Hmmm, ya know... If they didn't know it was there, it would be a non-issue, wouldn't it? Maybe I'm onto something there! On the other hand, how do you hide anything online? There's encryption, but that doesn't really 'hide' anything. Hmmm....   Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yes! Anything and everything on the Internet should be considered public, which is why you should be careful what you say online. Anything said anywhere online is equivalent to being published in a newspaper, and may even be brought as evidence against you in court. This is a fact that one should always keep in mind. Also, with talk of even high ranking military security being hacked, such as the Pentagon, it becomes evident that there is no such thing as security online, either. The best you could hope to do would be the same thing you do when locking up your bicycle: Buy more time, in hopes the thief will look for an easier target.

2. - I don't know for sure if it's true, but in the days leading up to the activation of the Hadron Supercollider in Switzerland, the rumors I heard were saying that if it were to malfunction and get out of control, it could lead to the destruction of the entire planet. Some of the other things scientists are tinkering with give me the heebie-geebies: Like trying to open a door into other dimensions, or finding out the limits of physicality, taking things past absolute zero, for instance. They've already made things like a liquid that can go through a solid. What next? What happens if they open a door and something comes through that can't be stopped? Yeah, I know it sounds ludicrous, and like something from a bad horror movie, but the point is: Shouldn't we be a lot more cautious when poking around in areas no-one's ever been before, and which we have no way of knowing the results of our prodding?

Just sayin'....

It's all about infrastructure.

Think a country the size of the US [in scale] and a comms network being supported by a population about 280 million smaller.

Now....with or without limits....whatever you pay each month means it will cost you to feed the cloud.

It is NOT a one-off cost...no more to pay.  That is false advertising.....and only true if you actually do not use it.

The electricity required to spin up and access a 5TB harddrive is going to be infinitely less expensive....;)

And I agree with you 100%. brother, we really should be more cautious about what we're messing with.... that 'thing' from the annuls of science fiction could very well be waiting for that door to open.

Yes, and there's another thing. I can't remember who it was exactly, Azimov I think, who said (to paraphrase) "The important question about alien life is: Is it friendly?"

Now, think about life on good ol' Earth. Where do we get our food from (bop on the head if you said "supermarket")? We eat other creatures, that's where. Everything we eat was once (and sometimes still is) a living, fellow creature, with varying degrees of sentience. A somewhat humbling thought when one really considers it (provided one has a compassionate nature and temperament). This is how most all creatures stay alive; most likely not only here, but across the Universe as well. Therefore, the thing we need to consider most about alien life-forms is (bop on the head again if you said: "Are they tasty?") will they think we're tasty?

This kind-of sheds a whole new light on those New Age types who are gung-ho about Space exploration and contacting alien life in hopes of making new friends, doesn't it?

In the words of H.P. Lovecraft: "Never call forth that which you cannot send back."

haredelune....you think, perchance you're posting to the wrong thread? ....;p

I agree with haredelune completely. It makes perfect sense.

Hostile and hungry aliens have taken over the cloud. ...And that's why we should be afraid of it.

I may have to start chucking rocks at people ....;)

Just nobody suggest the cloud may be under threat from global warming......

-Or brought it to attention at least

Waa-ha-haa!!

You're right, of course. Sorry to go so far off-topic.

As to the cloud, what more can be said? It's already in use, is implemented silently and invisibly to casual users, and provides a nexus-point of storage and communications that is open to anyone who can access it, as far as any of us know (I presume).

In all the promotional material I've heard for cloud computing (admittedly little), I've never once seen or heard the topic of security mentioned. It seems, from what I've read elsewhere, however, that IT in general is expanding far more rapidly than the casual user, or general security systems, can keep up with. This means that the canny user, or most technically informed user, will have great advantages over all others.

This is my extrapolation based upon my own judgement. There is a good chance I could be wrong.

I think if you don't see much re security issues it'll be because it's the elephant in the room....;)

You can see that, too?   I thought it was just me... and needed to up the green pills to stop seeing things.

Oh well, if you can see it as well, I'll keep taking the pink ones.