Your Custom Text Here
It's July 31, and tomorrow our family is taking a ski trip to Mount Hood. I'll be spending the next 5 days putting the kids on the glacier for some summer skiing and I will take a break from writing blog entries.
Thanks for continuing to read this blog. i'll be back next week with more to write.
-Dave Ohara
There are a bunch of news on Google's reporting of on governments that request Google to remove content from their website.
Google reports 'alarming' rise in government censorship requests
CNN - 2 hours ago(CNN) -- Western governments, including the United States, appear to be stepping up efforts to censor Internet search results and YouTube videos, according to a "transparency report" released by Google. "It's alarming not only because free expression ...Google Transparency Report reveals take-down requests from governments
Siliconrepublic.com - 5 hours agoThe fifth update to Google's Transparency Report reveals an increase in informal requests from governments to remove political speech from their services. Google's Transparency Report first saw the light of day about two years ago.Google Transparency Report: U.S. Content Removal Requests Increased 103%
TechCrunch - 1 hour agoTo put this into perspective: in the first half of 2011, Google was only asked to remove 757 items in the US and only received 92 removal requests. Google complied with 42% of these requests. According to its report, Google received 6321 user data ...Google Transparency Report reveals 'alarming' rise in government censorship ...
GlobalPost - 5 hours agoGoogle has seen an increase in requests from governments to take down internet content they don't like, according to its latest Transparency Report. Google has reported a rise in the number of requests it received from governments to censor its search ...
One of the interesting things I find is how a traditional news organization will report vs. a Web2.0.
The BBC has their article here.
Google reveals 'terrorism video' removals
This article doesn't say who the author is or provide any links to the original content. Trust us we are the BBC. We know the facts.
GigaOm has a post its post here.
Google says US government takedown requests have doubled in last six months
- inShare78
New data released by Google shows that US government requests to remove search results, YouTube videos and other content has increased by 103 percent in the last half year. The company also released takedown information from around the world that show countries targeting everything from social network profiles to a citizen peeing on a passport.
This post has the name of the author, multiple links, stats on sharing through Twitter, Facebook, etc.
The original Google post is here.
More transparency into government requests
June 17, 2012 at 8:23 PMAbout two years ago, we launched our interactive Transparency Report. We startedby disclosing data about government requests. Since then, we’ve been steadilyadding new features, like graphs showing traffic patterns and disruptions to Google services from different countries. And just a couple weeks ago, we launched a new section showing the requests we get from copyright holders to remove search results.
The traditional way is trust us our brand, our publication. The Web2.0 is show us where you get your information from and who you are.
Which do you trust more to read? BBC or GigaOm. How about your kids or nephews/nieces?
(Disclosure: I work for GigaOm Pro as an analyst.)
Now you may assume you that the data center world is all built on science and facts. But, the Data Center World is no different than the rest of the world, and unfortunately those who benefit from managing your perception may have little interest in science.
Richard Feynman presented a talk on Cargo Cult Science.
I think the educational and psychological studies I mentioned are examples of what I would like to call cargo cult science. In the South Seas there is a cargo cult of people. During the war they saw airplanes land with lots of good materials, and they want the same thing to happen now. So they've arranged to imitate things like runways, to put fires along the sides of the runways, to make a wooden hut for a man to sit in, with two wooden pieces on his head like headphones and bars of bamboo sticking out like antennas--he's the controller--and they wait for the airplanes to land. They're doing everything right. The form is perfect. It looks exactly the way it looked before. But it doesn't work. No airplanes land. So I call these things cargo cult science, because they follow all the apparent precepts and forms of scientific investigation, but they're missing something essential, because the planes don't land.
If you want a way to detect the Cargo Cult Science in data centers, a pretty good indicator is whether you can find what Richard Feynman tell the graduates to do to not be Cargo Cult Scientists. How are they credible.
It's a kind of scientific integrity, a principle of scientific thought that corresponds to a kind of utter honesty--a kind of leaning over backwards. For example, if you're doing an experiment, you should report everything that you think might make it invalid--not only what you think is right about it: other causes that could possibly explain your results; and things you thought of that you've eliminated by some other experiment, and how they worked--to make sure the other fellow can tell they have been eliminated.
Details that could throw doubt on your interpretation must be given, if you know them. You must do the best you can--if you know anything at all wrong, or possibly wrong--to explain it. If you make a theory, for example, and advertise it, or put it out, then you must also put down all the facts that disagree with it, as well as those that agree with it. There is also a more subtle problem. When you have put a lot of ideas together to make an elaborate theory, you want to make sure, when explaining what it fits, that those things it fits are not just the things that gave you the idea for the theory; but that the finished theory makes something else come out right, in addition.
An example of the Cargo Cult Science is IO Data Centers Last Snowflake that 2013 will be the last non-standardized snowflake. There are many others, but this is one of the more timely ones that just got picked up.
Uptime: CEO of IO reaffirms prediction of the “snowflake’s” last day
Slessman sticks by prediction of end of non-standardized data centersThe world will not see a single non-standardized “snowflake” data center built after May 2013.
There may be people excited about this, but where is the data to support this claim?
When i looked at Slessman's transcript from 2011 where he made this claim. There is not a single mention of quality or errors in the talk. What data is shown that every IO data center is the same. Huh. IO data centers has redefined physics where there are no errors or quality issues with any of their build outs, so every data center is the same.
So, let's go with a brand that prides themselves on quality and german engineering - BMW.
BMW builds 450 cars a day in its South Carolina plant and I am going to point to a bunch of things that make me believe BMW more than IO Data Centers.
BMW has an analysis center to figure out what is wrong.
At the Analysis Center, we ignore the BMW mystique, look past the dazzling lines and impeccable paint job. We strip down the BMW and take an honest look at our work. The naked truth in all its beauty is revealed.
The 60,000-square-foot Analysis Center is a fully functioning laboratory that allows us to examine and test every weld, every dimension, and every component on vehicles as they come off the production line. The Analysis Center covers three key areas of vehicle development: Functional Analysis, Manufacturing Analysis and Customer Feedback.
BMW has a 1MW data center to support its operations and analysis.
The BMW South Carolina factory is described in this National Geographic Video. What is not shown in this short video is the camera inspection equipment and many others to detect quality and errors in manufacturing.
The laws of physics are tough to beat and it is really hard to make hundreds of complex products be exactly the same. The products are not the same, they are all a bit different. The issue is whether the products perform within specifications and meet quality standards.
You can believe the Cargo Cult Science that 2013 will be the last snowflake and they will all be the same after that, but you may be like the villagers doing all the those things to bring the cargo planes back. Wearing wooden headhphones, bulding runways and putting wooden planes out.
Or you can go with the view that every data center is a bit different and I want an engineering science backed team who can adapt the manufacturing process to give a quality performing product.
Many of you play Golf. I don't. i decided playing golf gave people (including in-laws) the right to grab 4 hours of my time was not something I had interest in. Maybe if golf was 1 1/2 hrs I would play.
Watching Kevin Na play golf is painful, and few would follow his example. Although all players have been frustrated by a slow group in front of them. Almost all amateurs pick up some habit of the pros.
WSJ has a post on this problem.
But the Tour's pace of play is a problem for the rest of golf, since the pros serve as amateurs' primary role model for how the game should be played. We buy the clubs, balls and golf fashions that we do largely based on the pros' example, and the same goes for how everyday players line up putts, take practice swings, throw grass in the air and dither around the course like they're being paid by the hour. Survey after survey show that slow play is a major factor in creating ex-golfers.
Now, as much as you may think this is wrong. Keep in mind who the tour serves. The players.
The reasons why the Tour is unlikely to change its current pace-of-play system anytime soon are many and interconnected, but here's a good one to start with: meaningfully speeding up play would, in effect, penalize the Tour's slowest members where it hurts them the most, in their wallets. And the Tour, lest we forget, exists primarily for the benefit of its members.
Think about it. Just because you are watching someone present at a data center conference should you follow their habits? Many data center conferences, the #1 customer is the vendor and their needs. A pro golf player's # 1 revenue is his sponsor money, not the winnings.
Consider Charles Barkley's controversial statement that he is not a role model. Who is your role model for data centers? The guys who have vendors sponsoring their performance should have you questioning whether it is best for you.
Mike Manos is one of the data center executives who I always enjoy chatting with. We chatted over drinks and dinner a few weeks ago in LV, and I am looking forward to when we are both in Santa Clara for Uptime. One of the things I enjoy is reading one of Mike's post, and thinking about what he says and what I would say if we were drinking a beer.
Mike has a post on some observations he has collected.
Cloud Détente – The Cloud Cat and Mouse Papers
April 2, 2012 by mmanos
Over the last decade or so I have been lucky enough to be placed into a fairly unique position to work internationally deploying global infrastructure for cloud environments. This work has spanned across some very large companies with a very dedicated focus on building out global infrastructure and managing through those unique challenges. Strategies may have varied but the challenges faced by them all had some very common themes. One of the more complex interactions when going through this process is what I call the rolling Cat and Mouse interactions between governments at all levels and these global companies.
Having been a primary player in these negotiations and the development of measures and counter measures as a result of these interactions, I have come to believe there are some interesting potential outcomes that cloud adopters should think about and understand. The coming struggle and complexity for managing regulating and policing multi-national infrastructure will not solely impact the large global players, but in a very real way begin to shape how their users will need to think through these socio-political and geo-political realities. The potential impacts on their business, their adoption of cloud technologies, their resulting responsibilities and measure just how aggressively they look to the cloud for the growth of their businesses.
Mike shares where he is going with future posts.
The articles will highlight (with some personal experiences mixed in) the ongoing battle between Technocrats versus Bureaucrats. I will try to cover a different angle on many of the big topics out there today such as :
- Big Data versus Big Government
- Rise of Nationalism as a factor in Technology and infrastructure distribution
- The long struggle ahead for managing, regulating, and policing clouds
- The Business, end-users, regulation and the cloud
- Where does the data live? How long does it live? Why Does it Matter?
- Logic versus Reality – The real difference between Governments and Technology companies.
- The Responsibilities of data ownership
- … regarding taxation exposure
- … regarding PII impacts
- … Safe Harbor
One of the things I enjoy is listening to Mike and seeing where I have made the same observation. I wrote back in June 2010 that Government Regulation is coming to Google, Facebook, or Apple.
Who will be next for Government Regulation? Google, Facebook or Apple
FRIDAY, JUNE 11, 2010 AT 12:03AMOne side affect of the Microsoft anti-trust action is the governments of world feel good about taking on technology companies with regulation. You go throughout history and technologies at first were not regulated - auto mfg, power generation, oil & gas, and healthcare. And, there is still people arguing there needs to be more legislation in these areas.
The Data Center industry is one of the youngest industries that has little regulation. When you look at the Mobile carriers they have dozens of years of regulation (remember how AT&T was broken up). Can you foresee a future where data centers and the data in them is as highly regulated as mobile carriers?
Keep in mind Mike's warning of the coming regulations to the Cloud and Data.
My hope is that this series and the topics I raise, while maybe a bit raw and direct, will cause you to think a bit more about the coming impacts on Technology industry at large, the potential coming impacts to small and medium size businesses looking to adopt these technologies, and the developing friction and complexity at the intersection of technology and government.
\Mm
