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Blog 4: Security of the Internet

This was a very eye opening chapter for me. Blum talked a lot about the security of these data centers. He also talked about how they find the right location to build these centers. First it was important to understand how they chose a location for these centers. It makes a lot of sense when you understand what is happening on the inside. Due to excess heat, they find a climate in which it stays cold. I can only imagine the kind of heat that one of these centers can produce. Sitting next to my computer right now, I can feel heat coming out of it. You then have to take into account the amount of money that you will spend on a building location, right? Well actually Blum talked with a person who said that this is a minor cost compared to the amount of money that it takes to upkeep one of these facilities. The cost to keep it cool is a majority of the cost so building it in a cooler climate makes sense. They can bring in the cold air from outside and cool the machines that way rather than having to spend money to air condition the place.

I did not realize the type of security that was involved in a data center. I suppose it makes sense that they need to do this since they are storing your personal information that you don't want stolen. Blum brought up a good point though, he said that these places hold our personal information but we know almost nothing about them. This really stuck out to me because basically we are entrusting our most personal data with a stranger. I will probably never meet a person that is in charge of wherever my data is stored. This person could learn a lot about me if they wanted to. This was just something that I thought was interesting and scary.

Questions:

Did you realize the type of security that was involved with protecting your data?

Blum said he thought he may have been the first tourist of the internet, do you think this is true and will he be the only?