Cloud computing technology

In today’s digital world, technology has a significant impact on people’s life. The technological advancements are changing people’s lives by making it easier for them to perform their day to day tasks. The impact of technology on people’s lives is both positive and negative. The technologies have assisted in connecting people from all across the globe and create new business opportunities; however, they have increased issues for individuals and organisations as well. The cloud computing technology is a good example which has made people’s lives easier while creating challenges for the same time. The technology enables individuals and corporations to store their data and provide them ubiquitous access to such data (Zissis and Lekkas, 2012). The key advantage of the technology is that parties did not have to store their data on their devices physically, and they can also access this data from all across the globe. However, there are disadvantages as well such as data cannot be accessed without an internet connection, vulnerability to cyber-attacks, privacy issues, and others. One of the key issues with the internet is that once something is published or leaked on the internet, then it becomes almost impossible to remove it. It creates that issue that ‘the web never forgets’ which adversely affects many people. This report will evaluate both positive and negative impact of cloud computing on the fact that ‘the web never forgets’ and how it influences people’s lives. 

The cloud computing technology is defined as a shared pool of configurable computer system resources which assist in delivering of computing services which include databases, storage, software, servers, intelligence, networking, and others. It is an effective method for delivering information technology (IT) services in which resources are retrieved from the internet through various tools and application rather than directly connecting to the server (Dinh et al., 2013). It is an alternative option of keeping the files in the local storage device or hard drive and keeping it in cloud-based storage due to which it is possible to access such files remotely. The data which is stored on the cloud is accessible from everywhere based on which it becomes easier for companies and individuals to share their data around the globe. The cloud is classified into three categories which include public, private and hybrid cloud. Generally, most individuals and corporations use public cloud through their cloud service provider (CSP) which provides them access to cloud storage by charging them certain amount for their usage (Arora, Parashar and Transforming, 2013). The popularity of cloud computing is growing worldwide and a large number of people relying on these services to store their data and share it with others.

The Web Never Forgets

This is a term which thrown around a lot in recent years with the popularity and ease of access to the internet. The growth in global number of social media users has also increased this issue. Now small things become “viral” or popular in just few days, and they can be seen across the globe (Acar et al., 2014). News stories spread faster as well due to social media sites because news corporations have the option to reach a wider and global audience instantly. The pictures, videos or other contents shared on these websites are stored on the online servers which can be accessed and copied by anyone in the world. It means that embarrassing moments of people stored on the web and people have to option to access them for a longer period of time continuously. Due to this feature, it has become easier for people to store large data for a longer period time. Therefore, the embarrassing moments of people remain on the web for a longer period of time, and it becomes difficult for parties to remove these contents from the web.

Following are various scenarios in which cloud computing has a positive impact on the fact that the web never forgets based on which people receive various advantages.

• Storing personal data for long time

People are social animals, and they wanted to keep their data secure and available for a long period of time. People wanted to keep their family, friends, personal and work-related content saved throughout their life which includes pictures of babies, videos of vacation trips, hangouts with friends and others. It has become easier for people to take these files directly through their smartphone or computer. As people grow, the number of these files increases as well and it becomes difficult to manage all these files. Files which are physically stored such as albums, CDs, DVDs, hard disk or others have the risk of damage to the file in case an accident occurred. Thus, cloud computing has a positive impact on people’s lives in this scenario. It enables them to store their personal files on the web which they can access any time. People can upload their photos, videos, music or other files on the cloud and it is stored forever (Chen and Zhao, 2012). These pictures can be accessed by them at any time, and they can access them from all across the globe as well. In case any accident occurred, these files remain stored on the cloud which reduces the risk of loss of data. Google is a major company which offers free cloud services to its customers. Recently, the company has announced that its users can upload unlimited number of pictures and videos on its cloud servers without paying for any fees which shows the positive side of cloud computing (Ogasawara, 2015). Therefore, it is correct to say that the web never forgets and it can be used positively by people to save their memories.

• Ubiquitous access

Positive impact

After uploading files on the cloud, people have the option to access these files from all across the globe. It is a key advantage with cloud storage which is not the case with any other physical storage options. On social media sites, people can share a picture of their baby and their relatives living on the other side of the globe can see that picture instantly (Xu et al., 2014). The picture also remained forever on the social media website which can be accessed by anyone. It shows that power of cloud computing technology and its ability to positively influence people’s lives. It enables people to ubiquitously access their data from anywhere in the world which is not the option if the files are stores physically. It creates a ubiquitous environment which fosters collaborations in the workplace and strong relationships between people across the globe. Thus, it has a positive impact on people’s lives.

• Keeping organisational data secured

The corporations have to deal with a large number of paperwork which contains confidential data regarding the business. In case these files are lost, then the work of the company is hindering, and it could face financial detriments. On the other hand, the corporations can use cloud computing to go paperless by storing all its data on the cloud. The files are stored forever on the web, and they can be accessed by the company anytime. This is a blessing for multinational corporations since all the branches of the company can access the files without any delay. It also reduces the risk of theft or damage to the confidential paperwork since companies can protect them through a password (Sood, 2012). As long as the company continues to pay the charges for the cloud, their data remain secured. 

Along with positive impact, there are various negative factors of cloud computing because the stored data is never deleted from the web. Following are certain examples which show that the reason that the web never forgets resulted in adversely affecting people.

• Embarrassing moments

It has become easier for people to record others’ embarrassing moments through their smartphones, and they are easily sharing them on the internet. These pictures and videos become viral instantly, and people all across the globe see them. Many times the person in the video or image gets benefits of becoming viral, however, for others, it becomes a living nightmare. Anywhere they go people recognise them and started making fun of them. The cloud computing technology has made it easier for people to store these files on the internet where they can be accessed by them anytime (Hasan, 2014). These files are easily copied by people, and they remain on the web forever. Therefore, it becomes difficult for people to live their lives because even if people move on to another content, but, the person continues to suffer because these files did not go away from the web.

• Revenge porn

Negative impact

Revenge porn is referred to sharing or distribution of explicit images of another person without their consent. Many countries have recognised it as a serious criminal offence under which the people can be punished for sharing revenge porn. Once these files are leaked on the internet, then they are copied by others and even after removing them from one website, it becomes impossible to remove these files from all over the internet. Since the web never forgets, the victim who is in these videos or photos is exposed to the entire world due to which the victim can suffer physical or mental suffering (Citron and Franks, 2014). In many cases, the victim is left with no choice but to commit suicide. For example, Tiziana Cantone committed suicide when an explicit video of her was leaked on the internet by her former partner that turned into meme on social media sites and people started making fun of her (Tutty, 2018). She did not have any other choice by to commit suicide because the web never forgets and her video was always remained on the internet due to which she would not have been able to live her life normally. There are many victims of revenge porn incidents due to which the parties are left with no choice by to commit suicide. In many cases, these explicit images or videos are hosted by websites, and they extort money from the victim by blackmailing them to remove these files. It shows a negative side of cloud computing technology because it is very difficult to remove files from the internet and it resulted in adversely affecting people’s lives.

• Failure to access the data

Although the cloud computing technology enables users to access their data from all across the globe, however, it did not mean that it is secured. The cloud also negatively affects the statement that the web never forgets because there are many exceptions to this rule. Firstly, the organisations or individuals who wanted to keep their data in the cloud have to pay charges for the same to their cloud service providers (Rong, Nguyen and Jaatun, 2013). If they did not make the payment on time, then the CSP has the right to block their access to the content after which the parties cannot access their own data without making their payment. If the payments are not made for a long period, then the CSP has the right to delete the data to free up space in servers. Many times an accident can occur on the server location which could result in damaging the servers. If the servers are damages, then all the data is lost, and the parties cannot access such data. However, it is highly unlikely that parties lost all their data because these servers are kept secured by CSPs, and they also keep back-up of important files.

• Dependence on the internet

In order to use cloud computing technology, the parties are completely dependent on the internet. Without access to a high speed and reliable internet connection, parties cannot access their files from anywhere which are stored on the cloud. However, it does not mean that the content on the internet is lost or deleted. It is still accessible by anyone who has an internet connection (Sanaei et al., 2014). Thus, the web did not forget even when the parties did not have an internet connection, and their files are stored on the internet. However, many organisations and individuals avoid relying on cloud computing technology because of the high dependence on the internet.

• Breach of privacy

The data which is stored on the cloud can be breached due to cyber-attacks, and cybercriminals can gain unauthorised access to the data by hacking into the servers of CSPs (Kshetri, 2013). The data stored on the web is not secured, and it can be violated by hackers. It shows the negative side of cloud computing technology because the personal data of users can be violated and it can be leaked on the web. A good example is leaking of private pictures of more than 500 celebrities in 2014 from the cloud service of Apple called iCloud. The hacker was able to access to the cloud of these celebrities, and he downloaded their explicit images on the internet (Kamps, 2015). It shows the negative impact of cloud computing because these images will be on the web forever and even the government cannot take any action about it to remove these images. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, cloud computing technology has the potential to change people’s lives because it provides them various opportunities and threats. With the popularity of cloud computing technology, the statement that the web never forgets has become true because people can store their data in the cloud which remain available forever. Its positive impact is that people can forever store their memories, organisational data and access them from anywhere. However, the negative impact of the fact that the web never forgets is that people’s embarrassing moments or explicit content including revenge porn always remain on the internet. Although these files can be lost due to damage of servers, but, it is highly unlikely. Moreover, there is the risk of privacy breach of people when they use cloud due to which their private data always remain available on the cloud. Thus, cloud computing has both positive and negative impact on the statement that the web never forgets. 

References

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