Some rambling about data...

We are in such a difficult place globally and things are not going to get any better anytime soon. So I think I'll write down my thoughts on the state of the world for the pleasure of future generations. Assuming there will be future generations. What there probably won't be is any record of these thoughts, mainly because they are written in bot and bytes on electronic media and not written on good old fashioned paper.

I think many people make an assumption that once you write something down it will live in the ether for ever and ever. But of course that's not the case. The magnetic media that holds most of what we think as being immortal has a lifespan. The magnetic media on a disk wears out and the mechanism can break causing a complete catastrophic failure of the disk itself. But that's ok, because the data is probably stored on another disk somewhere else, and that'll be safe. But disks fail for other reasons too, a data centre can flood, can catch fire, can be destroyed by a natural event.

That's why data centres have multiple geographically distant locations mirroring data so that a disaster at one site will not matter too much as the data will be duplicated at a second site and maybe even a third and fourth.

But even that's not fully safe. The data exists on a disk because a series of computer instructions and programs cause the data to be translated into the required format and stored on a disk. There are so many things that could disrupt that process. Code mistakes are just one. Malicious data attacks are another. And don't forget that if a coding virus gets into the system it is as likely to infect the remote mirroring sites as it is to infect the master site.

Once again, there is a solution. the data can be regularly downloaded into magnetic or optical data storage media and kept off the grid so that malicious software cannot get to it. That's great, so the data is safe. Well, it's safe so long as the processes and procedures have been correctly followed and assuming the data stored off grid does not also have a copy of the virus that has destroyed the online data!

And even that's not the end of it. Imagine if tomorrow Google (or Alphabet) was sued in some massive class action and lost and it's value crashed from Billions to zero. The company would fold. OK, so that's a little unlikely. But what if... Well, all those data storage centres would instantly go off line because nobody would be paying the bills or the wages of the people that worked in them. But maybe someone would buy the assets and all the data would be saved. Maybe, but who. And what of there was some clause that meant that if Google ceased to exist then all their data had to be wiped clean!

And that's still not all. Technology moves forward and it is not always backwards compatible. Think about the storage methods that would have existed and were common forty years ago. Floppy disk drives and small tape solutions. None of the hardware to read these mediums exist except in a few museums and a few attics around the world. Even then, the software also has to exist to be able to read from the devices. The same applies to all storage media. Unless the data is transferred from the old media to the new at a point in time when both exist, there is always the danger of data being lost. It might still be there, but getting to it might be impossible.

Plus, things like CDs are not indestructible as was claimed when they were first developed. The optical layer on the disc can and does deteriorate. I saw a Pink Floyd cd from the 80s that had completely disintegrated so the data (on that one disc) was gone forever.

And there are many cases of data being destroyed completely and forever. Perhaps one of the most notable was 2008 Universal Studios Fire that destroyed irreplaceable and one off copies of recordings made by thousands of recording artists. The vast amount of the recordings that did not make it onto mass recordings or online (on remote servers somewhere else) is gone. Forever.

There are more aspects to consider. One of the biggest is government intervention. What if the state takes control of data in the same way the state took control of business ventures in 18/19th Centuries. What might the state do with all that data. What might it manipulate, edit, destroy, to suit its needs. Is that out of the question?

Maybe better to ask the people in the PRC, or Russia, or Iran all of whom have to one degree or another taken steps to put in place walls to prevent data coming in or going out of the countries boundaries. Russia is just completing its tests on having a internet which can be cut off from the rest of the world should there be the need. China has its own Great Firewall of China but far more interesting are the numbers of data analysts that are employed by the government to monitor and moderate every permitted social media service within China. Iran has several times closed the whole of its online and cell services off from the rest of the world while it deals with unrest. So it is not that it will not happen because it already does, it is to what extent it happens.

Crikey, that was not even were I meant to go. I was thinking more about green issues and policies and the various wants and needs and how somebody will always be unhappy. But I guess I'll do that tomorrow!