by KaiserJeep » Sat 05 Apr 2014, 19:11:56
It so happens that I work for one manufacturer of the large servers that are often used in data centers. My workgroup's particular product line is the fully fault tolerant "database of record" machines that quietly count money in the background, in a location removed from the network backbone machines, in locations we keep secret. Both the database of record and the network backbones have remote backup sites, remote duplicate databases are common, as are non-volitile data backups sent to secure storage in odd places like salt mines.
Nowadays the network is pretty much immune to hardware failures, natural disasters, and even widespread sabotage. The modern failures you should worry about are Day 1 software bugs in widely used operating systems like Windows or Linux, deliberate cyber attacks by malicious people or groups, and thefts of personal data.
I don't keep things like my tax records or financial data on a computer that is network attached. I have one credit card used for online purchases, and I watch it closely - in fact I watch them all closely, because every card you use authorises purchases online over the web. Gone are the days when a card impression was accepted.
To tell the truth, even though it is fashionable to talk about "The Cloud" and we have been carefully coached at work on how to do so, I NEVER thought it was a good idea to have every file I care about in an anonymous location, encrypted in a way I don't understand, by somebody I don't know. So I don't partake of the cloud for anything more serious than the magazines, e-books, apps, and catalogs linked to my mobile devices. I archive on DVD several times a year, including the Android and iOS backup folders for all my mobile devices.
We have already been asked to provide data on those unfortunate residents of Oso, Washington, whose tweets and online purchases have quietly ceased since the mudslide. The authorities will use the information to assist in identifying bodies and body parts, via the DNA of relatives, and using the family data in the last census form you filled out. They will also go through your checking account and credit card records to see who your dentist is, and get your dental x-rays for the medical examiner.
I can't tell you how common such data requests are nowadays. There are even software packages that identify people by pattern analysis of their online habits, written words, sites visited, and so forth. It's easy to change your name, but hard to hide online - one of the things you are asked to do in one of the witness protection programs is to give up on using mobile devices and the Internet. I find that hard to imagine, my whole life has become divided into "BC" (before I had an online computer) and "AC" (after I had one).
KaiserJeep 2.0, Neural Subnode 0010 0000 0001 0110 - 1001 0011 0011, Tertiary Adjunct to Unimatrix 0000 0000 0001
Resistance is Futile, YOU will be Assimilated.
Warning: Messages timestamped before April 1, 2016, 06:00 PST were posted by the unmodified human KaiserJeep 1.0