20260601 Clouds außer Kontrolle

Who owns “the cloud”?

... and who decides what is stored there and what happens to this data? As we all know, it’s GAFAM (Google, Amazon with AWS, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft) and many others — in Germany, the CEO of Lidl is building a massive data center near the Spreewald.

Greenpeace has conducted a fairly comprehensive study on cloud data centers (see link below). Regarding the environmental aspects of the cloud, the study notes: Amazon’s subsidiary AWS operates resource-intensive data centers worldwide. To do so, the company requires enormous amounts of electricity and water, which jeopardizes the energy transition and fuels the climate crisis. Then we can already imagine the future of the Spreewald. With the expansion of the Tesla plant in Grünheide near Berlin, many residents are already concerned about the area’s water supplies.
In addition to electricity and water, the production of chips and the training of AI models also require the labor of people who are systematically exploited by Amazon.

But it’s not just about the environmental damage caused by data centers. Greenpeace writes: A new Greenpeace report reveals just how unscrupulous AWS’s business practices are. “Amazon’s Toxic Web Services” systematically reveals for the first time who Amazon partners with to operate its cloud infrastructure — and the result is clear: AWS does business with at least 100 of the 263 companies deemed uninvestable according to recognized exclusion lists in the financial industry.
These include, for example:

JBS – AWS provides computing power for one of the biggest drivers of Amazon deforestation and one of the world’s largest methane emitters, which, incidentally, has been convicted of serious corruption

Shell – AWS supports Shell in the exploration and development of new oil and gas fields – contrary to the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement

Palantir – AWS provides the infrastructure that Palantir uses to link surveillance data for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Anduril – AWS’s infrastructure enables the development of autonomous combat drones that independently identify targets – without significant human oversight

The data of all humanity and control over it must not be in the private hands of a select few. There must be ethical standards and transparency to ensure accountability regarding who holds what power and how they use it. So Greenpeace has established an ethics policy.

Worth reading - and to be applied.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)