ePrint (was Re: HP OfficeJet 6500A plus)

[Fairlight]

Confusious (Steve Parker) say:
> 
> I don't even yet trust "cloud" computing or third-party support remote
> monitoring and support, so how backwards am I.

s/backwards/smart/

> Much of the remote monitoring we can and do accomplish ourselves. Then there
> are local providers if the site is too much to want to manage oneself, and
> would like to know that a data center open and manned 7 x 24 is keeping an
> eye on things and will let you know id something starts to go sideways, but
> I'm sorry, I have a problem with the NOC being located somewhere in the
> outback of Pakistan.

I really hate to disillusion you, but the major Federal agencies allegedly
have direct taps at most (if not all) of the domestic carrier lines at the
core level, from what I've been told--direct access built into the systems.
Data is possibly -safer- overseas than stateside.  Unless you're using
end-to-end encryption -and- physically control the server location, it's
not to be considered secured, period.  Even that only gets you partially
secured.  To be fully secured, you'd need to encrypt the filesystems -and-
physically isolate the system to the degree that the ultra top-secret
systems supposedly are--physical isolation, special conduits for cables
in/out that are either pressurised or vacuum sealed, with sensors to detect
any physical tampering...the works.

See, you can -probably- trust a carrier's carrier like Level 3--they're
state of the art, and left to their own devices they're not going to
risk good business by being stupid.  Problem is, you can't trust the
government whose country they're hosting their domestic (to us) data
centers in--namely ours since the Patriot Act, Echelon, and a host (pardon
the pun) of other things went into play.

Doesn't matter if you're doing nothing illegal--it's the principle.  That,
and the fact that the alphabet soup agencies love to bandy about the
word "terrorism" as a magic wand and skeleton key to get themselves into
anything they feel they want into.

And while I may sound paranoid, I don't think I actually am.  In this day
and age, it's actually just realistic assessment, IMHO.

> How different is "cloud" computing? No one has been able to convince me
> otherwise. When asked where my or my customer's data resides, there is
> always a pregnant pause on the other end of the phone!

I don't trust the cloud at all.  I don't like it for security reasons, and
it's logistically unwieldly when you start dealing with even moderately
large amounts of data.  Anything over 50-100GB, it's next to useless unless
you're on 100mbit+.

> So I concur. I don't care to have clear text emails sent to HP servers
> (sitting no doubt in India or Pakistan) deciphering the data and sending it
> of to who-knows-where as it is sent back to your customer's printer. Too
> many security holes and too many thing to go wrong.

Well, HP is another story entirely.  That's not a cloud...that's just
someone that might peek to do what Google and Facebook been accused of many
times--collecting data to sell to other companies.  Big difference between
a consumer-oriented corporation, and a top-level carrier.

> Just my two cents!

Perfectly valid $0.02, but I see your $0.02 and raise you $0.02.

mark->
-- 
Audio panton, cogito singularis.