Free software pioneer Richard Stallman has renewed his attack on cloud computing with a denunciation of Google’s Chrome OS operating system.
Stallman – founder of the Free Software Foundation, who also created the GNU operating system – said the operating system would lead to “careless computing” that could leave data vulnerable.
Google showed off its cloud-centric Chrome OS last week and said it would make the most of cloud computing, where data is stored remotely in service-provider data centres.
According to comments made in the Guardian newspaper, Stallman believes the move to cloud computing plays into the hands of data-hungry authorities and poses a security risk.
“I suppose many people will continue moving towards careless computing, because there’s a sucker born every minute,” Stallman said. “The US government may try to encourage people to place their data where the US government can seize it without showing them a search warrant, rather than in their own property.”
Stallman has previously branded using cloud services as “stupidity” and he expressed concerns that Google’s cloud plans could make the architecture more prevalent.
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