Saturday, March 05, 2011
No trust, no cloud
A few weeks back, at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, I was invited to give a talk about "Consumers in the Cloud". It is a hot topic: consumers are putting more and more personal information on the cloud, from their friends (address book) to pictures, videos, files and much more.
My talk focused on one major topic: trust.
Trust is the key when it comes to putting your data in the cloud. There are things you want to share with everyone, some you want to share with few, and few you do not want to share with anyone (probably, not even your mom). My focus was on the latter.
Why would you put your persona data in the cloud, anyway, if you do not want anyone else to see?
First, because you are afraid to lose it. Because your data is important. And if you put it in your hard disk and it blows up, you have lost it forever. A picture gone is a part of you gone, a memory that will never come back.
Second, because you want your data to move across your devices. If you take a video on your mobile phone, where do you want to see it? On the small screen or on your TV (or - at least - on your PC)? Yep, me too.
Therefore, your data will end in the cloud, eventually. Synchronization across connected devices will drive it. Backup, Time Machine will make it secure and easy. Once your data is in the cloud, you can pick what to share (not everything).
Trust comes in because you need to be sure that the place you put your data in will not give it away, or use it for different purposes. You need a safe for your data, a locker, a place with a key you only have. The bank itself cannot open it, cannot see it. You must trust them.
Who do you trust?
Do you trust Facebook for your important data? Well, rent The Social Network and let me know...
Who could you trust, then?
Your device manufacturer, maybe. Can you trust Apple? Probably, but there is a major flaw in their ecosystems: they are close. You must have iPhone-iPad-AppleTV and so on for everything to work smoothly. If anyone in your family has an Android, the Apple world breaks. Device manufacturers cannot go cross-platform, so they will never be able to be a good digital locker.
Google? I doubt it. Maybe. But their business model is built on sniffing your data and make money on it. They will analyze your information. They will know it. And they have another issue: they are the land of Android and they have neglected all the other platforms because of it. It is Android or a browser, anything in the middle is decaying (look at the poor support they give to sync with a BlackBerry... And they do not even have contact sync on Outlook...).
Anyone else?
The carriers. They can go cross-platform. They have a brand known well. Some of them are even trusted, mainly in emerging markets. Are people loyal to their carrier? Not really. Do you want to give all your data to AT&T, get locked in so you can't move to Verizon. Maybe not. But they definitely have a shot.
Ouch, who is left?
A third party, a startup, someone built with with this idea in mind. It could be Yahoo! or Amazon, or someone we do not even know now. I think a company will eventually own this space, and it is going to be huge. It is all your data in the cloud, it means your life, something you will pay for. To someone not doing advertising, not looking at your data.
Someone you trust.
Posted by Fabrizio Capobianco at 15:42
6 Comments:
Ottavio Rizzo said...
In Capo we trust?
Comment Posted at 17:20
It's gonna be Microsoft! Trust me :)
Comment Posted at 13:24
No, it's going to be CertiVox. www.certivox.com
They will be the ultimate key server in the sky.
Comment Posted at 15:51
Thank you for the interesting post.
In terms of trust I would put banks first. They look after our money and we all consider reasonable to pay for their services.
I would trust Paypal to keep my most important data out of sight from anyone else. What do you think?
Riccardo
Comment Posted at 04:39
Sorry but I trust no one, once your data is online it will be there forever, think you could delete it? Well, I don't. Information is the ultimate asset. I just bought the new motorola atrix 4g and after seeing the motoblur network and the GPS finder (in case you loose the phone) I decided to return it. I don't want anyone with my data or knowing where I am at. some will say "makes my life easier" but nothing beats peace of mind. My important info is stored offline.
Comment Posted at 18:51
fontgoddess said...
I think true paranoia can live in the cloud, it just requires encryption, obfuscation, and/or being very boring. I work hard at having all three on my side, but I think the biggest threat to my data is not public access but instead the fragility of any system where my data is only in one place. That's my kind of paranoia — not identity theft as much as hard drive failure. I've lost more hard drives than I've lost sensitive personal information.
As for "information being the ultimate asset," well it is worth something, and sometimes that information is worth more to me as private information, and sometimes it is worth trading my info for something that values me and others (see: last.fm). I just object when that data is used for the benefit of someone else disproportionate to the data's benefit to me or if it is used to my disadvantage (see: the bazillions of dollars that Facebook has and their incredible willingness to hand over vast amounts of data to law enforcement, advertisers, or anyone else with enough power or money). I don't think the value of data requires extreme measures, just informed consent and fairness.
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