Jonathan Zittrain '95
August 27, 2009
In a recent op-ed piece for The New York Times, titled “Lost in the Cloud,” HLS Professor Jonathan Zittrain ’95 argues that the move from running code and storing data on PCs toward doing everything online—or cloud computing—“comes with real dangers,” including loss of data, loss of control, and less privacy protection. He also discussed this topic in a July 9, 2009, article “Google’s Cloud” in Newsweek magazine.
Zittrain, the author of “The Future of the Internet — and How to Stop It” and co-founder of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, was a guest on National Public Radio’s “On Point,” moderated by Tom Ashbrook, on August 10.
Zittrain appeared on the show with Kara Swisher, technology columnist for The Wall Street Journal and co-executive editor of All Things Digital, a website owned by Dow Jones covering technology, the Internet and media. He discussed what’s at stake in the move from PCs to “cloud computing.”
A summary of NPR’s segment “From Desktop to the Digital Cloud” appears below. Click here for the podcast.
“Cloud computing” sounds exotic, but it’s becoming absolutely commonplace.
All kinds of computer activity that used to happen in your home or office, on your PC’s local software, is instead happening online. On the Web. In the “cloud.”
Your digital address book is probably there. Your calendar. Your digital photos. And soon, much more — maybe all — of the computing you do will happen far from your desktop. On Internet server farms. In the cloud.
Google and Microsoft are battling there. And a lot more than money may be at stake.
In a follow-up post after the show aired, Zittrain explains why he’s still worried about code migrating to others’ control.
