McCrea, B. (2010) How Solid is Your Clouded Data? Campus Technology, September 9
If you have the patience to get beyond the really irritating pop-up advert on every page now of Campus Technology, this article is worth reading.
Gartner Consultants have proposed a bill of rights for educational users of cloud computing. If any single article has put me off the idea of cloud computing for post-secondary educational institutions, it is this one. It raises some scary scenarios that should never be even remotely permissable. Nor does it deal with cross-border issues, such as the Patriot Act’s implications for foreign universities with data located on a server in the USA, for instance.
The real problem is that cloud computing applications are now so extensive and easy to use by all institutional users – faculty, students and staff – that strong, enforceable laws to protect privacy and the ownership of data on external servers are essential, not just guidelines and ‘opting-in’ contracts. However, given what governments are now doing to Blackberry in the name of national security, this seems highly unlikely even in a countries such as the USA or Canada.
Dr. Tony Bates is the author of eleven books in the field of online learning and distance education. He has provided consulting services specializing in training in the planning and management of online learning and distance education, working with over 40 organizations in 25 countries. Tony is a Research Associate with Contact North | Contact Nord, Ontario’s Distance Education & Training Network.
