That DARK "cloud" on the Net's horizon is Google's dominant cloud computing/storage ambitions

The Wall Street Journal article yesterday: "Google plans service to store users' data" is another stark reminder of the very dark cloud on the Internet's horizon -- Google's dominant "cloud computing" capability (i.e. Google's world-leading parallel processing computing grid and storage centers, which Google uses to cache a more-than-daily copy of every page of every website on the Internet and also every Google users' clickstream history.)

• According to the WSJ, Google is planning to offer a free way to store all the information on people's computer hard drives in Google's "cloud" -- ostensibly to give consumers the 'freedom" to access their computer's files from any where, whether or not they are at their computer.

Now why would Google want to give you that type of service for "free"? Because they want even more personal and total information about you than they have in your search history, in order to sell to advertisers even more info about your most private "hot buttons."

• If you are a free Google gmail user, Google already reads your email to send you targeted advertising. 
• If you use Google's free documents or spreadsheets, you may remember from a previous post of mine that:
• Users of Google's "free" docs and spreadsheet applications are legally forfeiting some of their property rights to Google in agreeing to Google's terms of service. 
• "By submitting, posting or displaying Content on or through Google services which are intended to be available to the members of the public, you grant Google a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to reproduce, adapt, modify, publish and distribute such Content on Google services for the purpose of displaying, distributing and promoting Google services. Google reserves the right to syndicate Content submitted, posted or displayed by you on or through Google services and use that Content in connection with any service offered by Google. Google furthermore reserves the right to refuse to accept, post, display or transmit any Content in its sole discretion." [Bold added]
  • Let me translate: If you use Google applications to produce content that might someday be for public use, the user grants Google ownership rights in advance to profit off that content in most any way Google sees fit. "   

So lets review at least two ominous aspects of Google dark cloud on the horizon:

• First, Google's dark "cloud" may be the ultimate in what I call "pryware" or "stalkware" the ability to remotely snoop through all your digital belongings extremely efficiently, no matter where you are.
  • The potential for abuse and harm here (if Google's system is breached like most every other system has been breached whether it be government, corporate or personal) is incalcuable and down right scary.
• Second, Google's dark "cloud" may be the ultimate in deceptive wealth transfer or thinly disclosed "rights to steal."
  • If Google has property rights to what you produce on their free applications like word processing and spreadsheets, why wouldn't they assert some property or search rights to all your digital belongings on you computer hard drive? Its on their server, its their copy isn't it?

Bottom line: 

• The digital information one has on one's hard drive is almost by definition private and has no business being in a potential searchable universe of information.  
• Google's breathtaking ambitions to insinuate itself so deep in your head and life are truly Orwellian.
  • Listen to Google's CEO in his own words about Google's ambitions to know everything about you:

    • "Asked how Google might look in five years’ time, Mr Schmidt said: “We are very early in the total information we have within Google. The algorithms will get better and we will get better at personalisation. “The goal is to enable Google users to be able to ask the question such as ‘What shall I do tomorrow?’ and ‘What job shall I take?’ ”"

  • If that doesn't make your skin crawl, you haven't thought through what it means...