Many of us will remember Data, that cute, not so cuddly android robot from Star Trek Next Generation who wanted to feel emotions like a human. Yeah, he was a gas and lots of fun to watch. He seemed to know everything. I’ll bet he would give us a caution about how data is collected and stored these days and probably how it is used.
Data centers are popping up all over the place. According to Wikipedia, the US is hosting 5,381 data centers with more on the drawing boards. One in particular has been proposed to be built in the state of Utah. It’s 40,000 acres and uses more electricity than the entire state and will have hundreds of cooling fans going full blast creating a heat island in an already hot state. Some of these data centers are water cooled and use millions of gallons of water. Look out electricity and water bills!
One of the features of data centers is that they seem to be needed so much that no environmental impact report is required to put one up. In fact, zoning and other regulations are twisted, changed, or ignored so they can be built faster. Yes, we need everything faster but for Heaven’s sake don’t look where you are going.
The county and city officials in the areas where these centers are located don’t seem to be listening to the mobs of people opposed to them. They hide behind nondisclosure agreements and other methods of secrecy. Some of them have recently been voted out. Yes, the entire bunch of them in one city. But the centers keep popping up and we don’t even know the half of it because you can be certain that the government has a few they keep secret.
With so many of these centers, one has to ask a few questions. Why are they needed so fast? Why are existing laws and regulations being bypassed? Why are there no environmental impact reports as are required for putting up a fence in your backyard? Why do they need so much space to store data?
Let’s look at that last question because I think it’s the most telling. First of all, I saw an external hard drive about the size of a cell phone advertised on the web. It could hold 35 terabytes. That little device could hold 17,500 to 20,000 two hour movies at standard definition. Whoa Nellie! That’s a lot of movies. You couldn’t watch that many in your whole life if you stayed in your chair glued to the screen with a waiter bringing you food and a port-a-potty right next to you. Compare this little device with over 5,000 huge data centers and you have more than enough space to save trillions of two hour movies. Ad in the one that’s 40,000 acres, the size of Manhattan, and the amount of data that can and will be stored is enough to make Data scratch his head.
What are they going to do with all this data? Will they store your medical, tax, education, traffic tickets, and other similar records? You can bet on it. But there’s still a lot of room left over. Is the data storage going to be used for writing letters you need to but don’t want to write, make funny images to share, turn pictures into funny distortions, or talk to you when you are lonely? Yes to all but we still have a lot of room left. We’ve hardly filled up one data center even if we also keep track of everyone’s purchases along with all that other data.
If you look around and look closely, you will see cameras all over. Cameras at intersections, inside stores, watching crowds at malls, in airports, parks, and guarding people’s front doors. There are cameras in your TV, computer, phone, all watching and listening what you do and say. Along highways and major roads is a network of cameras that report directly to the government. Add to this facial recognition and the newer analysis of the way everybody walks and between all these cameras, your phone, credit card purchases and license plate numbers, and you have a surveillance system that can track everyone everywhere at all times. Granted, not all of the cameras are hooked up but don’t bet they won’t be.
The point is what is planned that is on the way to be realized. There is already a massive amount of information being collected on each and every one of us. The next step it to make it impossible for us to do anything without it being noted and stored in one of these centers. Everything means everything. Your diet. Drugs you take. Blood pressure and heart rate. What you are doing right now. Your potty breaks. What arouses you sexually and your sexual escapades. All of it.
It seems a good idea to oppose these data centers and anyone wanting to build them.