According to a recent survey, a majority of Americans are totally confused about cloud computing. The survey was conducted by Wakefield Research for Citrix, and included over 1000 participants. The results of the study showed that roughly 51 percent of those questioned believed that rain clouds caused interference with devices that were connected to “the cloud.”
Of those surveyed, only 16 percent actually knew that cloud computing was a network of computers that hosted data. Also revealed in the survey was the fact that although most of the respondents did not believe that they used the cloud, an overwhelming majority actually did without even realizing it.
“While Americans may be struggling to articulate cloud computing, it
doesn’t mean they aren’t using the cloud. The majority of Americans (54%) claim to never use the cloud, however 95% of those who think they’re not using the cloud, actually are: 65% are banking online, 63% have shopped online, 58% report using social networking sites, 45% have played online games, 29% store photos online, 22% have stored music or videos online, and nearly 1 in 5 (19%) use online file-sharing services – all of these are cloud-based.”
Like any technology, “the cloud” is a double-edged sword that can be both dangerous and beneficial. Not only can the cloud be useful for storing large files, but there have even been some circumstances where people have been able to expose police corruption, after officers deleted videos from a phone that was later retrieved from the cloud. Critics of the cloud also have valid concerns as well, namely in regards to privacy and lost data.
John Vibes writes for True Activist and is an author, researcher and investigative journalist who takes a special interest in the counter culture and the drug war.
