Some one at one point in time decided to point out that we live in a “Mobile first, Cloud first” Digital world. Say what you want about poor choices whoever that guy was, was absolutely right. I want to call this out right here and now that the computing world will never go to a mobile only, cloud only world. The day it does is the day it also dies. 

So I’m sure at some point the term “Cloud” has graced your ears involving some kind of geek speak. When the cloud was first a thing…there was a decent amount of confusion regarding it (this was hilariously pointed out in the movie sex tape) . A lot of people didn’t really understand what someone meant when they heard “You should save those pictures in the cloud”, or “If you need to keep your tax info for the last couple of years you could just save them to the cloud then pull them down when you need them again” 

For those of you who want a little better understanding of the “Cloud” lemme try to break this down in the easiest manner I can. The term “Cloud” generally refers to a non-disclosed place on the internet at large. More often then not a cloud is a server or group of servers thats built to either store stuff for you or perform some task or job that your computer can’t quite handle all on its own. The latter of these types of clouds usually includes a fee of some kind to use. 

When you think of the cloud think of a computer “box” or group of “boxes” that is sitting somewhere in the vast void of the interwebs (more typically sitting in some kind of fancy smancy office building full of men wearing pocket protectors and women wearing sweater vests). This box is what is holding your pictures, your tax information, your movies, your whatever. The nice thing about this and why this has become so dominant is that as long as that box remains on the internet you can always go back to getting your stuff back. As long as there is an internet connection you can get back to whatever it was you put in the cloud. 

So that sounds pretty handy…instead of chewing up my own hard drive space or running my own processor ragged I’ll just let the internet do all the work for me right? 

See as pleasant as it sounds…its really not that good of an idea at least for most things. Notice how I chose the word “most” and not all. The reason I picked that word and spent another 3 sentences pointing out that I picked that word is because unlike many of my other blogs upto this point there are elements to it I can’t completely shit on. 

In order to shape your thoughts a little bit more ask yourself the following questions BEFORE you use a cloud service:

Am I storing something I wouldn’t want anyone else to see?

Am I storing something that others could use to against me?

Am I storing something that others could use to hurt me?

Am I storing something that is definitively mine and I don’t want anyone else using or messing with it besides me? (Meaning I don’t really care who sees it I just don’t want anyone messing with it)

Am I storing something that I may absolutely need 5-10 years down the road?

Do I have enough control over how this service works to do what I’m ultimately trying to do?

Will using this service completely screw me if I’m without internet for an extended period of time?

Am I using this service to accomplish work that someone else could steal?

Am I using this service to accomplish work that could be sold to someone else without my permission and without compensation?

Is it possible I might need to sue someone over what I’m using this service for?

Is it possible someone could sue me over what I’m using this service for?

If you answered YES to even a single question above then I hate to break this to you but the cloud is absolutely NOT a good idea. 

Remember how the cloud refers to a “box” or group of “boxes”? Well funny thing about those boxes is that they aren’t yours. Meaning someone else is letting you use their boxes (free or not). This person or company or whatever can also stipulate a bunch of rules that you have to agree to follow in order to use their box. A common rule that most box providers have is that they get to claim equal ownership of whatever you put inside the box (even if your just using the box as a service).  You also have absolutely no say over what happens to the box. If they wanna set the box outside on their front lawn under a sign that says FREE STUFF there is literally dick you can do to stop them from that. In many cases any litigation taken against the box provider is swatted down quickly thanks to the initial agreement of rules. Also if someone steals the box from the provider and all your titty shots and dick pics wind up in the gay porn industry there is literally no action you can take against the box providers. You can file police reports against the criminal party that stole the box…but that’s only does you any good assuming they are caught.

Kind of a final note on how the box works but effectively you do need some form of internet to get to the box. In most cases that isn’t a huge deal since there are plenty of hotspots around right now and if you’re a little more on the technical side of things downloading files onto your phone then transferring them wherever you need to get them isn’t super challenging. But heres a little known fact your high school computer class probably didn’t teach you…no phone carrier…no Internet Service Provider…no hot spot provider…guarantees service 100% of the time. Meaning there is ALWAYS a chance that just when you need that internet to get to whatever you have in that cloud…your screwed. 

Having gone over all of this hopefully the questions above make a lot more sense now. In general there is no such thing as a secured cloud. Remember…the key point to the cloud is that it’s a box sitting connected to the internet somewhere…there are plenty of things YOU can do to protect YOUR information on YOUR computer or device but once your stuff is in the cloud you have ZERO control over how protected it is. If your using a cloud service that boasts security because they use advanced practices or if they lay out play by play how their “box” security works….don’t buy into it…that’s literally like a banker telling a regular customer how the safe in the bank works…once that information is out there anyone that knows what they are doing can crack that sucker wide open. And lets not forget…it’s the internet at large…meaning this safe would be any Tom, Dick, or Harry could walk right upto without so much as a second glance. 

So with all this gloom and doom surrounding the cloud why did I mention earlier that I can’t completely shit on it? Well heres a little experiment to try…

Go back over the questions mentioned above…now imagine that what your keeping in the cloud is your weekly grocery shopping list…or your using a cloud based document editor (like notepad or Word) to keep track of your groceries in a digital format….If you really think about something as simple and miniscule as a shopping list isn’t going to break you if something happens to it…the same can be said for someone that steals it. (If you wanna steal something out of my cloud that’s cool…heres a random list of assorted foods I plan on buying at some point in the future…don’t see how that’s gonna help you but hey everyone has their kinks right?) 

The same can even be true of information that might be slightly more important but still not valuable enough to YOU. I might use a cloud storage to keep up on documents I’m writing because I felt like writing a book or a novel. If I’m a professional writer or have aspirations of becoming a best selling author this idea becomes bad…but If I’m just writing for the sheer hell of it because I’m a hobbyist with nothing better to do then chances are its not that big of a deal if something happens to it or if it gets swiped. Its all truly a matter of how important the information that’s going to the cloud really is…to me…or you as the cloud user.

Bottom Line: The cloud can be really nifty thing for trivial information that can’t in any way shape or form come back to haunt you. But its never a good idea to use any kind of cloud service for something super important. You can’t protect it, You can’t control it, it WONT actually always be there, and there is absolutely nothing that can change any of that. If its something important keep it offline. Even if you can’t get to it from everywhere its still safer on your own hard drive then someone elses. 

Bottom bottom line: Is it important enough that you don’t want anyone else to see/use it? Keep it out of the cloud.