What Is 'The Cloud' -- And Where Is It?

There’s at least one funny joke in Sex Tape. While frantically trying to cut off access to the amateur porn vid he accidentally uploaded to iCloud, Jason Segel tries to explain why deleting the file won’t work. “Nobody understands the cloud,” he says. “It’s a fucking mystery!” He’s kind of right.


“Cloud” is a buzzword that vaguely suggests the promise and convenience of being able to access files from anywhere. But the reality is that the cloud is hardly floating like mist above our heads — it’s a physical infrastructure, its many computers housed in massive warehouses all over the world. And yet as long as it’s easy read email on our phones and watch movies on our laptops, we generally don’t take the time to wonder where our data actually goes, how it gets there, and what happens to on its way.

What is actually happening when you punt your files, photos, and videos up to servers owned by Apple, Google, and Amazon? Let’s peek behind the cloud, and face reality.

By Adam Clark Estes 

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