Church Techy
Where Tech meets Church
My Cloud Computing Concerns
Author: Stuart28 Apr
My post on wanting a shared calendar that isn’t hosted online has generated more feedback than any other post and that’s just fine as it was what I wanted – your input.
What it also did for most folks was to get them to question why I didn’t want an online application – otherwise generally referred to as cloud computing (CC). There are a number of reasons I don’t want it to be online and none of them are to do with shortage of skills or desire to learn or an unwillingness to take on new ideas. After all, in my professional life most of my customers use a variant of CC where we host their servers or apps.
The one major difference between my professional life and utilising CC for my Church is the security (the second is plenty of money!). At work we build the security in. Only the client or authorised external parties get access to the data and applications. By default this doesn’t happen in the public world.
Anyway, here is my take on why I don’t want to use CC apps for my Church … at present.
- Security. I cannot guarantee that my data is private and won’t be shared / disclosed / otherwise let lose.
- Longevity. I also cannot guarantee that any provider is going to be there next week let alone next year. At least with a standalone app I can keep it beyond its useful life if necessary.
- Infrastructure. Currently the Church setup is such that it could go down and lack of access to the data would put them in a DOS situation.
Those are the three main and probably pertinent reasons aside from my personal (and likely irrational) dislike of CC apps. Then you get the likes of Bruce Schneier whom says it all so much more eloquently than I can.
6 Responses for "My Cloud Computing Concerns"
Security – http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/infra... I don't know about you, maybe at work you have that but nothing in my church has that level of security.
Longevity – Yeah you take a hit on this one; but, no upgrading makes this one even for me.
Infrastructure – At least for Google products including their calendar, you can have offline copies in case Google or your internet goes down.
The best things I like, is having someone else to call with a problem and good web access. More and more of the staff at my church are using their email, calendar, files away from church and Google and the other online providers do a better job than I do for that.
The trouble for me is that it is still a "shared infrastructure". At work clients are on their own dedicated hardware, etc unless they have very specifically bought into a shared setup. It's that shared aspect which still niggles (it's just me I know) along with Google's T&C's which don't always reassure.
Are the T&C issues coming from Bruce Schneier? He's crazy.
Your own web host for churchtechy.com T&C only gives you an uptime promise of 99.5%. And if anything goes wrong its not their fault.
Use Amazon at all? Same thing, as soon as they pass your book/item over to the shipping company, not their problem. If they happen to release your credit card numbers, according to their Conditions of Use, not their problem.
I don't see how "shared infrastructure" is any less secure than a dedicated hardware, just more places to fail, especially for someone with low resources like a church.
- but then I'm not after business class service for my web host
- my CC is protected by other means and damaged goods are their problem.
You aren't going to convince me. They are my paranoias and I'm keeping them :)
Heh, that's why I go to church sites to learn about the fears and problems people are having, even techs. I won't convince you now; but, it might help me convince people in my own church. Thanks for the replies!
Simon – are you UK based? If so can you drop me a note with your eMail address. My contact form should get you through to me :)
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