Entity Computing increases ownership of your environment.
[dropcap style=”font-size: 38px; color: #9b9b9b;”]I[/dropcap]nformation is your most important asset – knowing or disclosing just ONE extra piece of information could change your life.
Yet you have almost NO ownership (thus no control) of your information environment.
Having your information controlled by the policies of organisations which have different interests to you, means you suffer from substantially degraded Privacy, Innovations and Financials.
Benefit Gap
Computing is such a central part of modern live, the concentration of computing power (processor, storage, switch, software, management, policies) in the Cloud Providers transfers real world power and real world benefits from their Users to them.
Since Cloud Users are passively using environments designed and controlled by the Cloud Providers (instead of actively building their own), Cloud Providers become major bottlenecks between the their Users and the advantages provided by the EXPONENTIALLY improving Information Technology (Moore’s Law) and Network Value (Metcafe’s Law).
Benefits from those 2 laws (lower costs due to improved technology and increased values due to more members) are only passed on to the Cloud Users if they are in the interests of the Cloud Providers, in environments that the providers control and under the providers’ terms.
The New Digital Divide
Digital Divide generally refers to the gap between those who are able to benefit from digital technology and those who are not able to do so.
While the definition of Digital Divide may vary ( International Telecommunication Union’s Digital Divide can be different to World Bank’s Digital Divide). Most views on the Digital Divide are based on the Access gap (e.g. Close The Gap).
The most popular strategies of closing the Access Divide are subsidised broadband (e.g. National Broadband Network ) and cheap devices (e.g. One Laptop Per Child).
However, just throwing bandwidth and hardware into the Digital Divide is NOT sufficient in closing the Digital Divide. In a lot of cases, it actually INCREASES the Digital Divide by making exploitation of already vulnerable people (who lack money, skill and control) faster and easier than ever before.
Ownership = Benefit
All Digital Divide projects (whether government or non-government) aiming at closing the Access Gap publish long lists of benefits, from providing more individual opportunities to increasing the country GDP, however WHAT TYPE of opportunities and incomes are created when the end users have NO control of their own information environments ?
Definitely not the equitable type. The increase in opportunities and incomes will obviously flow more towards those with more ownership of the information environment, which currently are the Cloud Providers and NOT the Cloud Users.
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It is natural that the policies made by the directors and managers of the Cloud Providers put the interest of their companies first.
Improved access with little or no control by the users themselves exposes already disadvantage people to harmful elements like never before (from criminal acts like online fraud and cyber bullying to increased distractions by advertisements or friends).
Reducing Access Gap without corresponding reduction of the Benefit Gap will only give more power to those who already has control.
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[box type=”shadow”]Losing ownership of your MOST VALUABLE ASSET (your information), means losing the associated benefits:
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Unlike the Access Gap (which is mostly restricted to people on lower incomes) or the Skill Gap (which is mostly restricted to people with mature ages), the Ownership Gap affects everyone – foreign or local, rich or poor, young or old …
Possible Solutions
Many people have realised that a comprehensive solution that addresses multiple parts of the information environment is need to close the digital divide, however Information Entity is the only comprehensive scalable and deployable solution that closes both the Access and Ownership gaps.
Top-Down
A holistic approach naturally points to a top down approach – something driven by the government. The Meaningful Broadband movement in Thailand and Indonesia is a good example of one such attempt.
By being so called “Meaningful”, it attempts to address 3 areas:
- Affordability
- Usability
- Empowerment
While its aspirations are noble, trying to bring about deeper social change through universally available broadband, actually deploying Meaningful Broadband in the field can be quite challenging.
A major problem with the top down approach is its high level nature – deciding on government policies first before having the Carrier Networks implementation them. Our highly dynamic online world makes it difficult enough just to decide on the general directions to move towards, let alone coming up with detailed workable guidelines or processes. This fuzzy nature makes the wide spread deployment of Meaningful Broadband slow and risky.
Another problem is the use of established telecommunication Carrier Networks as the bed rock in the delivery of Meaningful Broadband means that all the established political, business and power structures remains – reducing the chance of substantial change.
Bottom-Up
Rather going top-down through Government Policies, there is also the bottom up approach, with some people starting to build distributed infrastructure directly for the end users. The Freedom Box foundation is one such attempt.
The “Freedom Boxes” are low cost servers that allow end users to own and run parts of their online life online. Some applications being developed are:
- Instant Messaging
- Web Proxying
- File Serving
A major problem with Bottom Up approach is its lack of supporting infrastructure. There are much more to an Information Environment that just server boxes talking to each other. From integration of the applications running on those servers (like user access control, data import and export, consistent naming for humans and devices etc.) to management of those servers (like responding to hardware failures, high traffic, hacking attempts etc.).
Another problem with is the use of a single tier hardware which makes price /performance tradeoff very difficult. Their typical approach is to pick a medium cost device with enough performance for their target applications (e.g. DreamPlug), resulting in a device that cannot running popular applications (like Windows, OS X or Ubuntu) and cannot be scaled up to handle larger families nor scaled down to a single individual.
Entity Computing
Entity Computing addresses the problems with both top-down and bottom-up approaches, by using a novel ecosystem based approach to closing the digital divide.
It provides a framework that allows end users to rapidly build our their information environments creating valuable information assets and innovations that they OWN and CONTROL as well as enabling the governments to ensure that the entities are operated in a way FAIR and SAFE manner.
Ownership
People are significantly disadvantaged if they have no control over their major assets. Examples including renting instead of buying your home or taking the bus instead of driving your car.
Cloud Computing
Cloud Computing (Facebook, Google etc.) deliver their services (e.g. email messaging, electronic commerce and video broadcast) on top of the Internet without having to build their own physical links to their customers.
To the end users, this is like taking the BUS – there is now a large number of services (many bus companies and bus stops) and the prices are low since the Information Centres can share the Internet (public roads) without building their own physical links (railway tracks).
“Cloud Computing” is like taking the bus, you go when and where it goes.
Information Centres (the bus) has substantial feature and price advantages over Information Networks (the train), but are they the best use of the Internet (public road) ? It will be one of the most wasteful thing in history of humankind, if this massive internet (public road) infrastructure is used only by the Information Centres (buses) to provide their services.
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Like any commercial organisation driven by investors seeking a return, it is a fundamental nature of the Information Centres (bus companies) to try whatever they can to get EVERYONE to use their services for EVERYTHING.
What if … you have different interests to their directors ?
Information Centres (bus companies) do have an important role to play in the information (transport) industry. However, they should not and cannot be the only option available.
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What if …
- You do not want the bus driver to know where you are going. (Privacy Problem)
- You do not want the share the bus with strangers. (Security Problem)
- The bus company decided to change its routes. (Stability Problem)
- You want to change the way the bus is decorated. (Creativity Problem)
- You want to travel at any time without waiting for the bus. (Productivity Problem)
- You want to go non-stop without changing buses. (Efficiency Problem)
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Entity Computing
Cloud Computing does not scale out to benefit everyone as the control resides exclusively with a small number of Information Centres.
The numerous problems list above with Information Centres (the buses) can be overcame if users can make full use of the Internet (the public roads) directly themselves – that is – if they have their own Information Entities (their own cars).
Entity Computing is about enabling the end users to build their own Information Entity (their own cars) so they can actively visit different information resources and develop their own information experiences on the Internet without being limited by the interests and operations of the Information Centres (the buses).
“Entity Computing” is like driving the car, you can go anywhere at anytime privately.
In today’s increasingly online world, your information assets (e.g. your emails, blogs, phone call logs, TV programs, contact list, videos, payment history, search strategy etc.) are too important to be controlled by others. Gaining or leaking just one piece of information can quite often change your life – for better or worse.
Entity based delivery of information services allows individuals to OWN and ENHANCE their information assets independent of networks and servers. Enabling the information economy to grow in a much richer and fairer manner – where everyone can contribute to and benefit from its rapid advances.
Having your own Information Entity is like having your own CAR – the information services are customised to your requirements (you can drive to anywhere at anytime), your costs are at the lowest possible and your privacy is at the highest possible, since you can now tab into the full power of the Internet (drive on the public road) without relying on a middle person (the bus companies) anymore.
Having your own Information Entity enhances every part of your daily information experiences (from reading emails to watching videos, from making a phone call to making a payment) with benefits that ONLY full ownership of your own information environment can bring.
Ultimately, its comes down to Individual Liberty and Property Rights. Full Ownership of your information assets and Total Freedom to use and benefit from your information assets – in ways that you want – not in ways that your Cloud provider wants.
The Cloud Deception
Similar to Web 2.0 before it, Cloud Computing is a marketing term that means whatever the person selling you something wants it to mean.
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In this 2009 video,
Larry Ellison (Oracle CEO) did a great job pointing out what Cloud Computing really is …
NONSENSE.
Since then, Cloud Computing has evolved beyond being just a marketing buzzword …
… into a movement towards massive centralisation of computing power.
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“Cloud” is a lie
The so called “Cloud” is just an Information Centre, and is nothing like a cloud. If we have to pick something out of the sky, then Cloud Computing is like the Sun – highly dominant and focused.
The irony is that the computing performed in these “cloud” offerings are all concentrated in a small number of very large data centres – which is the EXACT OPPOSITE of a cloud with a large number of very small water vapour.
The only “cloud like” features of Cloud Computing are that it is REMOTE and OUT OF THE CONTROL of the end user.
Cloud Computing represents the concentrated transfer information assets from the many to the few.
Innovation Problems
Transfer of information asset ownership from users to the “cloud” reduces the end users’ ability to innovate.
The lack of ownership coupled with cloud computing’s centralised approach means:
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- Cloud BLOCKS RELATIONSHIPS
- Cloud LIMITS OPTIONS
- Cloud RESTRICTS VIEWS
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Cloud Blocks Relationships
The Internet revolutionise how people communicate not only because it is low cost and it is global, but also because it enables DIRECT connection between people’s computers. The decentralised nature of the Internet allows everyone to develop and use it in their OWN way. Under such freedom, MANY to MANY relationships can be formed freely.
With Cloud Computing, communications (like emails, instant messages, photos, voice calls etc.) don’t go directly between end user computers anymore. People don’t SEND information to each other’s computers anymore, they POST to the Information Centres. It has become a ONE to MANY relationship.
The so called “Social Networks” are not really networks that enable connections between members, they are “Social Centres” where members must connect to first in order to connect with others.
Communications (emails, instant messages, photos, voice calls etc.) don’t go directly between end user computers anymore. People don’t SEND information to each other’s computers anymore, they POST to the Information Centre computers instead.
The direct many-to-many relationship between people, has now been replaced by the indirect one-to-many relationship through the Information Centres.
Cloud Limites Options
The power of evolution comes from VARIATION first and then selection. Channeling computing through COMMON Information Centres substantially reduce the variation pool available for selection.
With the old Information Network based structure, as long as the customer computers use the same protocol, there is NO LIMIT on the services that they can deploy. The development of the current Information Centre based structure reverses that.
Instead of running whatever software they like on their own computers to provide them with whatever services they like … people started to use Information Centre software that are ran on Information Centre computers to provide them with services that the Information Centres determined.
Concentration of services (email, messaging, storage etc.) significantly limit the variety and thus the future quality of information services.
It is difficult to maintain self-determination let alone develop new opportunities when the users have little control of their own information environment.
– excludes the majority from active participation – something all end users should avoid.
Self Determination
The inability of Cloud Users to control our own information environments means they only enjoy LINEARLY improving benefits since they are passively using environment moulded by the Cloud Providers instead of actively shaping their own.
Migration Restrictions
Lock In:
You cannot leave Facebook without leaving everyone you know on Facebook.
Lock Out:
You cannot communicate fully with someone who use Facebook deeply if you are not on Facebook yourself.
Cloud Restricts Views
Since Cloud Computing make most of its money by profile
Privacy Problems
Net2MAX Community Network improves you PRIVACY by giving you MORE OWNERSHIP of your Information Environment.
With ownership, YOU instead of Apple and Google will determine how your location is tracked.
you and your information are at the mercy of the Service Networks. For example, it is bad enough to disclose to Apple or Google your location when you are using them simply to look up your location for yourself, but they are going much further, and even when you are NOT looking up your location.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703983704576277101723453610.html
http://theconversation.edu.au/facebook-and-facial-recognition-youve-been-tagged-1776
http://www.news.com.au/technology/study-reveals-how-facebook-makes-people-violate-their-own-privacy/story-e6frfro0-1226593345970
Your most private data are governed by
Privacy Policies that …
… others drafted in their own interests
… others can change at anytime
Cloud Privacy
You will not let a friend or family member sit next to you 24 hours a day, reading every email you received or following every web page you visited.
Yet that is exactly what’s happening to you right now. Except that person is neither a friend nor a family member – but a faceless stranger many kilometres away … your Cloud Provider.
Knowledge is Power
It has been known for a long time (scientia potentia est) that information is and will remain to be our most valuable asset.
The problem with the Cloud computing is that … EVERYONE with comes in contact with your information must behave and NOT exploit it. However, your information is so valuable that … the temptation to exploit it is hard for ANYONE to resist.
What is Privacy ?
Privacy means controlling your information flow:
- not leaking your information out
- not receiving information you don’t want
This applied to information related to
- you as an individual
- your group characteristics (without identifying you personally)
Internet allows you to reach out like never before, but it also allows others to reach in like never before. Privacy problems on the Internet is so wide spread that it is almost everywhere you care to look.
Cloud Examples
No matter what the Cloud provider claims, how is it possible to have Privacy when it is someone else who set it in THEIR interests and can change it at anytime WITHOUT user approval ?
Th problem of course is that the Cloud Provider does not even claim to have good privacy, just have a read of their usage terms and conditions.
No Separation
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/glanceview/205502/glitch-leaks-zuckerbergs-pics.glance
High Value Target
Large Information Centres are large targets for attack, your data might not be valuable enough to warrant a sophisticated attack, but your neighbour account might.
Complete Profiling
You will NOT let a friend sit next to you
I want to sit next to you and watch
Complete Profile
Google knows what you are doing, where you are, your interest, your hopes, yours dreams … better than your parents and friends and in a lot of cases better than you.
Insurance company
Rich Devices
http://www.bgr.com/2012/03/30/selling-used-android-phones-poses-huge-identity-theft-risk-expert-says/
Financial Problems
Cloud Slows Adoption
Free Service Myth
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Millions of people use “free” cloud services everyday … how many appreciates that their time is limited.
Whether it is the time they wasted doing extra scrolling of the browser window because the advertisements are taking
how many actually wonder what their cloud providers rely on to survive ?
The balance between what to take from your Users and what to give back is a delicate
Many of these free services failed after a while while a few of them
All Cloud Users know that they are NOT sharing in the increasing profits nor the improving share valuation of their cloud service providers. So what benefits do the Cloud Users actually get ?
think about how much value those cloud services are providing to them and how much value they are providing to those cloud service providers ?
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[testimonial author=”Andrew Lewis”]
If you’re not paying for something, you’re not the customer, you’re the product being sold.
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http://www.zdnet.com/blog/networking/how-google-8211and-everyone-else-8211gets-wi-fi-location-data/1664
Time Wasted
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/30/us/new-digital-divide-seen-in-wasting-time-online.html
EXAGGERATES RISKS
You can loose ALL your Google services, if you break one rule on one service.
http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-07-14/tech/29953907_1_google-services-google-account-google-rules
Cloud Providers
Skype
The incident of Skype logging users’ private conversations on public servers is well known ([http://deibert.citizenlab.org/breachingtrust.pdf click HERE to view the actual report]). But how many people knew about Skype extracting information about their computer hardware covertly ? (click HERE for more details)
Two types of information can be leaked, one is your personal information (like your purchase habit from your credit card or online payment system) and the other is your operation knowledge (like when using a search engine the order of links you decided to click on result page to further your search). Both are equally valuable, and unfortunately in both cases, you do not know who has access to them and how they are going to be used.
Stopping information coming in is just as important as stopping information going out. Exposure to undesirable information on the internet (like spam that wastes your time, advertisement that distracts you, false information that misleads you) can be an inconvenience at best but can be down right dangerous in a lot of cases.
MySpace
Children are still being exposed to criminals on MySpace on a daily basis even after high profile cases, like the one where a hoax led to suicide of a girl] had gone to trial.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/making-ads-more-interesting.html
Mobile Phone
Dropbox
Useless password
Unlock ALL account
http://lifehacker.com/5813861/dropbox-accidentally-unlocked-all-accounts-for-4-hours
Fake Encryption
Skype
Net2MAX Community Network improves you PRIVACY by giving you MORE OWNERSHIP of your Information Environment.
With ownership, YOU instead of Apple and Google will determine how your location is tracked.
you and your information are at the mercy of the Service Networks. For example, it is bad enough to disclose to Apple or Google your location when you are using them simply to look up your location for yourself, but they are going much further, and even when you are NOT looking up your location.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703983704576277101723453610.html
http://theconversation.edu.au/facebook-and-facial-recognition-youve-been-tagged-1776
Recently:
http://www.bgr.com/2012/02/17/google-and-other-advertisers-used-a-special-code-to-bypass-safari-privacy-restrictions/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-tech/post/the-circuit-fcc-fines-google-googles-brin-worries-about-open-web-cispa/2012/04/16/gIQAsrDvLT_blog.html?wprss=rss_post-tech
http://support.google.com/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1686318
http://googleblog.blogspot.com.au/2011/10/fall-sweep.html
Bad Employee
http://gawker.com/5637234/gcreep-google-engineer-stalked-teens-spied-on-chats?skyline=true&s=i
WiFi Data
Handover data
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/apr/15/web-freedom-threat-google-brin
Apple
Location
Address Book
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/02/apples-failure-lets-developers-steal-your-address-book/
Verisign
Verisign
Verisign Hacked
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/02/02/internet-operator-verisign-admits-it-was-hit-by-hacks/
Verisign Quality
Advertisement
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/security/eyewonder-malware-incident-affects-popular-web-sites/3694
One of the biggest con of the 21 century is the move towards Cloud Computing.
http://soa.sys-con.com/node/1899675
http://www.opencloudinitiative.org/about
http://www.verdantix.com/index.cfm/papers/Press.Details/press_id/58/verdantix-cloud-computing-report-for-carbon-disclosure-project-forecasts-12-3-billion-financial-savings-for-us-firms/-
Facebook demands your real name and identity and then asks you for all your friends, whose email addresses are exposed to Facebook without their consent when you send out innocent “invites” to them.
Conspiracy theories like this video gain credibility when privacy is so explicitly violated in the terms of use.
[one_half]It is bad enough to collect details of all yours friends and make money with it (via direct marketing or social commerce) without paying anything to you.[/one_half]
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Your Friends …
How many of Facebook Invites have you sent out to people that did not ended up joining ?
Do those people know that you have exposed them to Facebook, without them ever consenting to it ?
Since Facebook has a global view across all members, multiple invites will give out detailed information about a person that does not want anything to do with Facebook.
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Facebook: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/minister-slams-facebook-breaches-20100524-w89g.html
EdgeRank = Censorship
http://www.blogaid.net/calling-facebook-edgerank-what-it-is-censorship
http://www.bestrank.com/blog/facebook-censorship-thy-name-is-edgerank
What is influence the Facebook’s board of directors more?
Their personal pay packets or the petitions from their users:
http://www.change.org/petitions/facebook-make-edgerank-an-option-and-let-us-control-our-own-newsfeed
Blocking Access
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-12-10/business/35745541_1_instagram-photos-instagram-founder-kevin-systrom-instagram-com
Exploit Teens
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-18/facebook-s-instagram-changes-may-exploit-teens-content.html
Amazon
http://www.zdnet.com/aws-users-fret-over-downtime-ahead-of-amazons-massive-ec2-reboot-7000034041/
Apple
hacked – photos
developer
Cloud vs Entity
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With Cloud Computing, information assets are consolidated into a small number of large centralised processing centres, which are owned and controlled commerically by a few PROVIDERS.
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Entity Computing is the exact opposite, information assets are scattered amongst a large number of small distributed processing entities (called Information Entities), which are owned and controlled independently by many USERS.
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Distributed Assets
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Once the users have their own Information Entities created, they can transfer as much or as little of their existing information assets (and associated value of those assets) from the Cloud providers back to their Information Entities.
Direct Communication
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Another benefit of distributing information assets with user is that they can interact directly with each other through their own Information Entities instead of through the Cloud. There by growing the value of their Information Entities instead of growing the value of the Cloud provider.
Community Driven
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With ownership comes the ability contribute to
Different communities can contribute at levels that is appropriate to them.
For example:
- Students can contribute to better maps by adding landmarks
- Parents can contribute to improved classification of web pages
- Landlords can contribute a space to host servers
- Councils can contribute a tall tree for wifi repeaters
Aggregation of resources and innovation from many parties enable Entity Computing’s community driven applications and infrastructures to deliver substantially better price-performance than Cloud based applications and infrastructures.
More importantly, they allow communities to perceive and interact with the world in their own ways, independent of the interests of the Cloud providers (and their associated advertisers).
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Entity Computing’s magic is to enable communities with NO technical NOR financial resources to create and operate their own Information Entities.
Information Entity
The increased freedom and power that come with moving from Cloud computing to Entity computing is no different to those that come with moving from rental accommodation to owning your own house or moving from taking the bus to driving your own car.
In order to deliver those freedom and power in an easy to use and cost effective manner, Entity Computing relies on a revolutionary way of creating and operating information environments based on a single building block called an Information Entity.
Information Entities are the private information environments where everyone, from the poorest individuals to the largest enterprises, can store all their information assets, establish ownership of those assets and have full control of how those assets are used.