Cybersecurity and Google’s Dream
Though Google denies it, many share the suspicion covered last week by Paul Boutin in Slate that one of the highlights of Google’s plan for world domination is rendering the chip inside each personal computer more or less irrelevant (and, by extension, the Microsoft Windows operating system as well) and instead making every keyboard and display simply the vehicle to tap into the applications, data and computing power housed in Google’s Oregon computing center. But while Boutin sees many advantages to this approach, he recognizes the Achilles heel is cybersecurity:
But the real deal-breaker is trust: Are you going to let someone else handle all your data? If you use a Google-served computing environment, everything you upload, download, or type potentially passes through Google’s computers. I’ll be the first to sign up, but that’s my blind faith in statistics. If there’s a privacy breach at Google, I figure I’ll be about 10 millionth in line to get hurt. How about it: Would you trust Google to protect your e-mail, your tax documents, and your family photos?
