Increasing Cloudiness

Q: I’m being prompted nearly daily to install os 5.0 for my iPhone. The description says it will back up my info to the Cloud. I would prefer to keep my personal info – contacts, calendar, etc. – between me, my iPhone and my laptop. Am I being paranoid? If I don’t install 5.0, am I forever stuck with my current os?

A: I don’t think you’re being paranoid, Marianne, nevertheless I as well don’t think you fully understand the nature of the mysterious Cloud. Frankly, neither do I yet I’ll be happy to give you my take on it, and answer your question. I’m sure I’ll either put your mind at ease, or scare you away from the Internet for the rest of your life.

The so-called "Cloud" is as a matter of fact nothing more than servers on the Internet. I’d be willing to bet that you already have a substantial amount of information floating around in the cloud that you rarely even think about. Do you shop online with a credit card? That information is in the cloud. Do you do any online banking? That’s the Cloud. Any monthly bills automatically drafted from your checking account? Cloud. Do you use any social media, just as Facebook or Twitter? Cloud. Even e-mail – particularly webmail – is a form of data in the cloud. These are obvious examples that require you to as a matter of fact do something to put your data online. There are others that aren’t so obvious, and happen outside your control. If you own a home, have a credit card, use a cell phone, or have pretty much any kind of financial account, you’re in the cloud somewhere. It’s nigh impossible to stay OUT of the cloud these days. For all that, we rely on the companies to whom we entrust our personal data to keep it secure. Most of the time they do, nevertheless the news is constantly filled with examples of spectacular data breaches where people’s data are compromised, often with financially disastrous results.

Apple’s iCloud is no more revealing than any other cloud service. What they are offering is merely a simplified way of connecting your iPhone to other devices. For instance, take a picture, create a contact, or purchase music on one device, and it automatically appears on all of your iCloud-connected devices. Not everyone else’s – just yours. It’s not as if Apple will be posting your contact list and photos for the world to browse at their leisure. The upgrade to iOS 5 that you asked about? It does not force you to use iCloud – you can disable it if you want. Nevertheless if you refuse iOS 5.0 at that time yes, you pretty much lock yourself out of any future updates. Whether you want iCloud or not, I highly encourage you to just go ahead with the update, because iOS 5 includes a lot of other nice new features.