From the editors
Ethics and the Cloud
Keith W. Miller, University of Illinois at Springfield
Jeffrey Voas, National Institute of Standards and Technology
T
he National Institute of
Standards and Technol-
ogy defines cloud com-
puting in the following
way:
Cloud computing is a model
for enabling convenient, on-
demand network access to a
shared pool of configurable
computing resources (for ex­
ample, networks, servers, stor-
age, applications, and services)
that can be rapidly provisioned
and released with minimal
management effort or service
provider interaction.1
Yet the fact that this is the 15th
version of this definition reminds
us that cloud computing is a rap-
idly evolving idea.
Regardless, people are de-
voting a lot of money and at-
tention to this topic, as cloud
computing promises to bring
significant changes to the
world of computing. W hether
“the cloud” will be beneficial
or detrimental is a current
debate. 2,3
Digital Revolution,
Looming Threat,
or Gibberish?
Some ethicists see cloud com-
puting as another incremental
step in a larger “virtualization”
of human civilization. Luciano
Floridi—a philosopher well
known for his work in information
ethics—views cloud computing
4 IT Pro September/October 2010 Published by the IEEE Computer Society 1520-9202/10/$26.00 © 2010 IEEE
as part of the “fourth revolu-
tion.”4 According to Floridi, this
digital revolution follows the pre-
vious Copernican, Darwinian,
and Freudian revolutions. These
science-based revolutions fun-
damentally changed our under-
standing of both the world and
ourselves.
Floridi sees cloud computing
as the first “graceful step out”
of the idea that computers need
humans.4 When compared to lo-
cally controlled computers, com-
puting resources in the cloud are
remote from their users and more
independent. Data in the cloud—
both personal and public—could
change our fundamental views
about ownership, accessibility,
and the usefulness of information
and knowledge. Floridi embraces
what he sees as positive trends in
the cloud.
Not everyone is as enthused
about cloud computing. Larry
Ellison, the founder of Oracle, has
been quoted as saying,
The interesting thing about
cloud computing is that we’ve
redefined cloud computing to
include everything that we al-
ready do. The computer in-
dustry is the only industry that
is more fashion-driven than
women’s fashion. Maybe I’m an
idiot, but I have no idea what
anyone is talking about. What
is it? It’s complete gibberish.
It’s insane. When is this idiocy
going to stop?5
Ellison might think cloud com-
puting is “gibberish,” but Rich-
ard Stallman, long an advocate
of Free Software, has a darker
view:
One reason you should not use
Web applications to do your
computing is that you lose
control. It’s just as bad as us-
ing a proprietary program. Do
your own computing on your
own computer with your copy
of a freedom-respecting pro-
gram. If you use a proprietary
program or somebody else’s
Web server, you’re defense-
less. You’re putty in the hands
of whoever developed that
software.5
Stallman’s fears are echoed
in many works of fiction. For
example, Kurt Vonnegut’s first
novel, Player Piano (Holt, Rine-
hard, and Winston, 1956), predicts
a world where large corpora-
tions automate more and more
functions, and human beings
are increasingly superf luous.
(For more on Vonnegut’s views,
see www.kirjasto.sci.fi/vonnegut.
htm.)
Centralized Computing:
The Pendulum Swings
Many agree with the idea that
cloud computing is becom-
ing ubiquitous. However, some
scholars take this a step further
by viewing it as a natural progres-
sion that’s moving computing on
the path of acceptance previously
taken by utilities such as run-
ning water and centrally gener-
ated electricity.6 If computing,
like tap water, becomes so com-
monplace that we rarely think
about it consciously, how will
that change us?
Ellison might be right that
much of what we hear about
cloud computing is hype. How-
ever, Stallman is also correct
in that cloud computing does
centralize power. The spread of
small computers, led initially by
the IBM PC, literally put com-
puting into the hands of indi-
viduals. Miniaturization has
produced smaller and smaller
computers, smart phones, smart
cards, and GPS navigators. But
the computing done “onboard”
these devices is increasingly less
important than the connections
the devices make to larger socio-
technical systems: the Internet,
navigation satellites, and the
cloud.
Issues concerning how com-
puting affects power relationships
have long interested scholars who
study technology and society.7
The Internet has always connect-
ed individuals to other individu-
als and organizations, but from
the start, it has required intri-
cate cooperation and sharing of
resources.
When the Internet is used to
further centralize computing
power and user data, the pendu-
lum seems to be swinging away
from individual autonomy and to-
ward more concentrated power in
fewer hands. If the holders of this
power are beneficent, or at least
benign, we can imagine that the
centralization can be to our ad-
vantage; for example, centralized
electrical power is often, though
not universally, seen as a societal
good.
However, if an individual relies
on large corporations to deliver
computing power and safeguard
data via the cloud, then the indi-
vidual will be placing a great deal
of trust in that corporation—and
in their clouds.
S
ome, like Stallman, see
the increasing use of cloud
computing as a loom-
ing threat, a corporate power
grab. Others, like Floridi, see
the cloud as another step toward
If computing, like tap water, becomes so
commonplace that we rarely think about it
consciously, how will that change us?
a more evolved “infosphere,”
where new efficiencies and cre-
ative possibilities will emerge.
It’s too early to empirically de-
termine if one, or both, of these
visions is accurate.
However, IT professionals will
be the engineers who will design,
develop, and deploy the various
technologies that will enable the
cloud. So, it behooves us to be
aware of both the opportunities
and vulnerabilities that the cloud
presents.
Acknowledgments
This paper was  not coauthored by
Jef frey Voas as a National Inst. of Stan-
dards and Technology (NIST) employee.
It ref lects Voas’s opinion—not the opin-
ions of the US Department of Commerce
or NIST.
References
1. P. Mell and T. Grance, “NIST Defi-
nition of Cloud Computing v15,”
National Inst. Standards and Tech-
nology, Oct. 2009; http://csrc.nist.
gov/groups/SNS/cloud-computing/
cloud-def-v15.doc.
2. M. Armbrust et al., Above the Clouds:
A Berkeley View of Cloud Computing,
tech. report UCB/EECS-2009-28,
EECS Dept., Univ. of California,
Berkeley, 2009.
3. N.M. Mosharaf, K. Chowdhury,
and R. Boutaba, “A Survey of
Network Virtualization,” Computer
Networks, vol. 54, no. 5, 2010,
pp. 862–876.
4. L. Floridi, “The Fourth Revolution,”
to appear in Newsweek (Japanese edi-
tion); www.philosophyofinformation.
net/publications/pdf/newsweek-article.
pdf.
5. B. Johnson, “Cloud Computing
Is a Trap, Warns GNU Founder
Richard Stallman,” Guardian.co.uk,
29 Sept. 2008, www.guardian.
co.uk/technology/2008/sep/29/cloud.
computing.richard.stallman.
6. R. Nichols, “Thomas Edison Would
Have Loved Cloud Computing,”
CNNmoney.com, 22 Jan. 2010; http://
brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.
com/2010/01/22/thomas-edison-
would-have-loved-cloud-computing/.
7. J.F. George and J.L. King, “Examin-
ing the Computing and Centraliza-
tion Debate,” Comm. ACM, vol. 34,
no. 7, 1991, pp. 62–72.
Keith W. Miller is the Schewe
Professor in Liberal Arts and Sci-
ences at the University of Illinois at
Spring field. His research areas are
computer ethics and software test-
ing. Contact him at miller.keith@
uis.edu.
Jeffrey Voas is a computer scientist at
the National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST). Contact him at
j.voas@ieee.org.
Selected CS articles and
columns are available for free at
http://ComputingNow.computer.org.
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