Microsoft's "Cloudburst" - Spectacular Data Loss Drowns Sidekick Users

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
Date: October 11, 2009 1:09:43 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Microsoft's "Cloudburst" - Spectacular Data Loss Drowns  
Sidekick Users



   Microsoft's "Cloudburst" - Spectacular Data Loss Drowns Sidekick  
Users

               http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000624.html


Greetings.  In one of those "How the bloody hell could this happen?"
moments that had damn well better be a wake-up call for the computer
industry, it appears that T-Mobile's Sidekick mobile users have been,
well, "kicked in the side" by a massive and apparently permanent data
loss at the servers that provide the data foundation for the entire
Sidekick system.

While Sidekick mobile services are marketed by T-Mobile, the critical
behind-the-scenes server functionality is provided by the (seemingly
aptly named) "Danger" subsidiary of Microsoft.

The Sidekick service has been unstable for some days, and it now
appears that -- stunningly -- all Sidekick user data that had resided
on the servers, that wasn't currently also present on the Sidekick
devices themselves, has likely been permanently lost
( http://bit.ly/3oms2H ).  Users are being warned not to remove device
batteries or let their batteries run down, or else any local data will
also vanish -- the Microsoft/Danger network remains unstable, and
devices are not being backed up to the net.  This includes contacts,
to-do lists, calendar entries, photos -- the whole enchilada.

This is obviously an incredibly dramatic systems failure, that by all
expected standards should have been impossible.

Some observers are suggesting that such a breakdown is a condemnation
of the entire "cloud computing services" concept.

I definitely would not go that far.  Cloud computing has enormous
promise.  But, and this is one gigantic "but" -- only when such
services are reliable both in terms of uptime and particularly
relating to data protection, privacy, and security.  As increasing
numbers of individuals and organizations move their operations to
cloud-based services, the impact of system failures can be enormous.

Another important related risk is being "locked into" particular cloud
services.  Most cloud computing services make it as simple as possible
to get your data into their universe.  But getting your data out again
can often be anything but trivial.  If your data is "trapped in the
cloud" and something goes wrong, it can be a very serious double
whammy indeed.

There are positive ways to proceed.  Google, for example, a leader in
cloud computing, has recently launched a specific project -- The Data
Liberation Front -- explicitly including as a key facet the goal of
making sure that users can quickly and easily export data from Google
products ( http://www.dataliberation.org ).  This ambitious and
extremely important effort should be a model for the rest of the cloud
computing industry.

The Sidekick/Microsoft/Danger "Cloudburst" -- as bad as it has been --
can still be a very valuable "teachable moment" in the short but
already crucial evolution of cloud computing.

A sustained failure to learn from such events could very much "rain"
on cloud computing's parade -- and on many other aspects of the
computing and telecommunications industries as well.

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren () vortex com
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
  - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad
  - Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, GCTIP - Global Coalition
  for Transparent Internet Performance - http://www.gctip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein





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