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May 20, 2013
Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star
The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
May 13, 2013
Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation
David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church
May 10, 2013
Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be
May 8, 2013
Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas
Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate
Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility
May 6, 2013
May 3, 2013
Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine
April 29, 2013
Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust
Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?
Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA
April 26, 2013
Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty
April 24, 2013
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Jewish World Review
Is Steve Jobs clouding my privacy?
By
Jim Mullen
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Last week, Steve Jobs, the ailing CEO of Apple, announced a major move to cloud computing. I'm in that cloud right now, typing this on Google Docs. It's a word processor that is on Google's computers, not mine. I can stop typing right now, go to my sister's house, get on her computer and keep typing exactly where I left off. No need to schlep a laptop, a CD, a thumb drive along. I don't even have to save it; it's done automatically every few seconds. And why buy a word processing program when I can use Google's for free? You don't need to drag your computer memories around with you any longer any more than you have to take your own electricity with you when you travel. It'll be there when you get where you're going.
The thing that worries people about the cloud is security. If I put stuff on Apple's cloud, they'll know all about me. They'll have all my passwords. They'll know my business. Right. Like Wal-Mart doesn't? Like American Express doesn't? Let me ask, is there anyone in the entire world richer than the people who run Apple, Google, Microsoft, Cisco, Facebook and Twitter? Do you really think Steve Jobs cares about getting his hands on your measly little checking account? That Bill Gates wants to see pictures of you and your kids at the beach last summer? As a matter of fact, it is in their best interests that the cloud stays secure and hack-proof.
Which is why you'll never find the cloud. It's hidden in thousands of anonymous, windowless, ugly buildings in hundreds of industrial parks around the world. Somewhere in that mass of ugly buildings you fly over when landing at any major airport in the country the cloud is hiding. The companies that run them don't want you to know where they are or what they are doing. They rarely have a company logo on the outside of the building. Sometimes they'll even make up a bogus name that is so unremarkable no one would ever ask what they do or what's inside. A giant, boxlike steel building with "MRLT Corporation" plastered on the side with a half-empty parking lot out front won't attract much attention in most big cities. And if a building called "LMNOP, the First Name in Medical Waste" burns down, it doesn't matter to the cloud. There are thousands more of them backing each other up all the time.
It's not the security of the cloud that worries me, it's the credit card companies that still send me bills with my full name, address and account number on them by snail mail. It's the doctors' offices that still ask me for my Social Security number. They don't seem all that worried that someone may get that information. You don't need a password to get into my mailbox. They are always sending me special offers, again with way too much personal information printed on them. I can't even simply throw them away, because you don't need a six- to eight-digit password to access my garbage. Now I have to shred all that mail or burn it, because I never know who is pawing through my trash. It could just be a laid-off teacher looking for food, but it could also be an identity thief. It's not the cloud that's compromising my identity; it's long-established businesses.
Who hasn't gotten the strange telephone call that asks you if you just bought an iPod in Prague at 2 a.m. local time last night? "No? Can you please cut up that credit card and we'll send you a new one?" It happens to me at least once a year.
"The card is in my wallet," I tell them. "How can a thief buy something without having my card when I can't?" I never get an answer to that question. I'm going to get on the cloud right now and see if I can find an answer.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Comment by clicking here.
Jim Mullen is the author of "It Takes a Village Idiot: Complicating the Simple Life" and "Baby's First Tattoo."
Previously:
The gift of garbage
Johnny Intern, Ph.D.
Twenty-foot fences make good neighbors
You must remember this…
TV experts and real news
Hey caller, where's the fire?
My sad cushy life
Pacemaker, don't you mess around with me
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Flight of the snowbirds
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Poisoning myself
Ban Huck Finn in schools --- even the sanitized version!
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2010: A year of annoying junk
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Don't we all cheat at the game of life?
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Purple (hair) Daze
Let me hear your body talk
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Collecting and hoarding
Chain of fools
Please come pick up your acting awards, ESPN commentators, you've earned them
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Collecting karma
Setting loose the creative juice
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The real rat pack
The unspeakable luxury of the Park-O-Matic
Gross-ery shopping
© 2009, NEA
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