Where physically on earth is your data stored that is supposedly up in the "cloud"?
See:
https://insights.perspicuity.co.uk/where-does-microsoft-store-my-office-365-data
“Cloud” is a buzzword that vaguely suggests the promise and convenience of being able to access files from anywhere. But the reality is that the cloud is hardly floating like mist above our heads — it’s a physical infrastructure, its many computers housed in massive warehouses all over the world. And yet as long as it’s easy to read email on our phones and open documents from who knows where on our laptops, we generally don’t take the time to wonder where our data actually goes, how it gets there, and what happens to it on its way and when ediscovery requires access to the files - then all of a sudden - it matters where the files are stored!!
What is actually happening when you put your files, photos, and videos up to servers owned by Apple, Google, and Amazon? Or if your law firm contracts with a company to "house" your data in a cloud? Let’s peek behind the cloud, and face reality.
Origins of Cloud Computing
While the term “cloud computing” has only entered the public’s lexicon in the past 10 years or so, the idea’s been around for decades. Cloud computing basically refers to a process of sharing resources to optimize performance. Practically speaking, that means using a network of computers to store and process information, rather than a single machine.
The early days of computing actually leaned heavily on a pretty similar concept. Back in the 1950s, when computer mainframes were the size of a room, users would log on to a dumb terminal to take advantage of the machine’s processing power. (They’re called dumb terminals because they can’t really do much of anything without the mainframe.) This time-sharing model is pretty analogous to the way cloud computing works on the internet today. But instead of one massive mainframe in the middle of a room, we rely on a global infrastructure of servers and data centers to do the heavy lifting.
By the time the 90s rolled around, it was pretty clear to the cyber-prophets of days gone by that the future would enable the whole world to share resources. Engineers started using a drawing of a cloud to refer to this network in patent drawings in the mid-90s. Compaq engineers coined the term “cloud computing” in late 1996, and less than a year later, Steve Jobs started using the term.
Unfortunately, referring to a place where your files are stored as a 'cloud' actually clouds up the issue of where the files are stored by misdirecting us up instead of having us look sideways! You can drive in your car to the place where your files are stored IF those files are stored in your country but if the files are stored in China in one of their warehouses of computers on their hard drives you may not be able to go to China and to that warehouse though you are permitted to access the files through the web of electronic connections. The reason this is important for legal professionals doing web research is one question may arise in ediscovery as to which state or country the files are stored that you are asked to produce or are requesting. Laws in the physical location where files are stored very greatly.