Should We Get Our Heads Out of the Cloud?

Grazed from HuffingtonPost. Author: Elaine Mah.

When news first broke that the United States’ National Security Agency (NSA) was "operating a covert program, called Prism, which obtains email and other electronic data records from Internet companies," a furor erupted over the violated privacy of information once it enters the cloud. It shocked a nation and then the world. I’m not sure what was more shocking: the fact that it happened or that so few people were truly prepared for this possibility.

Concerns that our online information could face government scrutiny first arose over 10 years ago when the Patriot Act was signed into law, and has now raised questions for businesses as to the security and privacy which could be afforded when uploading content to the cloud. With the ongoing revelations from the NSA files, many organizations that have embraced cloud computing in recent years now face new uncertainty and may even go so far as to revert to on-site only access to information and abandon the cloud…

Cloud computing is the popular buzz-phrase to describe all kinds of online access to information that has been embraced by both individuals and businesses of all sizes because of its ability to improve mobility and offer new services. But is that convenience coming at a price?…

Read more from the source @ http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/elaine-mah/cloud-computing-privacy_b_3824532.html