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back to article China Mobile to roll-out 16GB MEGA-cloud platform

The world’s largest mobile operator by subscribers, China Mobile, is finally jumping on the cloud computing bandwagon with its own iCloud rival, which will also be available to internet users outside the People’s Republic. The ‘Mcloud’ service is currently being tested and will be ready before the end of the year, offering …

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  1. Hyphen
    FAIL

    To be fair...

    "continually frustrating China Mobile by failing to build an iPhone designed specifically for its home-grown 3G standard TD-SCDMA"

    To be fair, if you're paranoid enough to want to go out of your way to build your own standard so as to avoid a dependence on Western technology, don't expect any Western technologists to want to support it!

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    1. frank ly
      Reply Icon
      Stop

      Re: To be fair...

      They developed their own standard so that they wouldn't need to pay license fees to western tech companies and so that domestic manufacturers wouldn't have competition from western tech companies and so could grow a massive domestic market share quickly and easily. That sounds very sensible to me, if not in the best long term interests of their captive customers. Then again, when did a big comms company care about its customers?

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    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: To be fair...

      iPhone 5 will most likely using Qualcomm's MDM9615 baseband, which supports everything the iPhone 4S chipset does, along with TD-SCDMA and China Mobile's future TD-LTE standard (along with regular old LTE for the US market)

      Of course, this doesn't guarantee they enable it to receive the specific frequencies, but even in the absence of a deal with China Mobile it would make sense for them to do so. There are millions of jailbroken iPhones on their network today running at Edge speeds, so the demand is obviously there even if China Mobile and Apple can't come to terms to offer it officially.

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  2. CmdrX3
    Big Brother

    Hmmm, Let me think awhile

    Would I a. Prefer to keep my private info private on my own PC, or b. Would I rather store it in on the computers in a communist surveillance state.

    I think on this occasion I may take option a even though I have little to nothing worth being surveilled upon anyway.

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    1. Chimp
      Reply Icon

      Re: Hmmm, Let me think awhile

      Well, yes.... But think.

      All those financials that you need to keep, but would rather not bother the revenue with. I mean, either side of the pond it's effectively wide open to government level scrutiny... But what will happen if Her Majesty, or one of her loyal servants, wants a peek at a data store in the PRC?

      Sure, the commies can see your data, and in some cases, that may be a problem. However, I see this being very popular with a certain crowd.

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    2. Danny 14
      Reply Icon

      Re: Hmmm, Let me think awhile

      There is this wonderful thing called encryption. Ive heard it is great for storing stuff you dont want opened in places that are a bit too visible or insecure.

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  3. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    No, no, really, we should go out of our way to take advantage of this by compressing useless files such as DRM music, or documents telling them to "F" off, with several different compression programs, then having those files encrypted several ways to sunday, then split them up into several files.....etc.....

    Just dump a bunch of junk on the servers and let them spend many hours trying to figure out what exactly the files are. I think they would either be pissed to find all the time was wasted on something stupid or insulting or frustrated because they were never able to decode it.

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    1. Ian 62
      Reply Icon
      Black Helicopters

      My thoughts about pretty much any tinfoil hatted government conspiracy.

      Either

      1) The noise/signal ratio is already so high with kittens, music, youtubing, stalkerbook, and inane twatting that any good inteligence is lost.

      or

      2) If they DID manage to build something that worked mining our data, we're growing our data so fast and shoving more and more of it into 'THE CLOUD!' that they're going to have to find a dyke to stick their finger in.

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    2. Naughtyhorse
      Reply Icon

      i think the problem in china is that the people have chains in their heads, they dont _need_ something like the stazi. so i doubt ther'd be a lot of data furtling going on.

      and really china so much worse than apple???

      cant see it myself

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      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Whilst I agree that trusting important information to a single cloud service is not the wisest move, comparing a business, be it Apple, Google or anyone else to the Chinese government is not really cricket now is it?!

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        1. Anonymous Coward
          Reply Icon
          Big Brother

          Comparing a business to the Chinese government

          No is one is comparing storing data at Apple or Google to giving it to the Chinese government. We're comparing giving it to the US government to giving it to the Chinese government. Because if you think that Google or Apple won't give up your data should the feds ask, you are deluding yourself. They won't tell you they are doing this of course, it'll be done via a law we aren't allowed to know about that Google and Apple aren't allowed to tell us about, just like the wiretapping that all the big US carriers did (except Qwest, but they probably are no longer safe since they got bought out by Centurylink, convenient wasn't that?)

          Of course, if you are not a US citizen, you may not care too much if the US government looks at your data, so long as you aren't doing anything terrorist related. Or drug related. Or money laundering related. Or help Wikileaks. Or any other "subversive" organization. On second thought, even if you aren't a US citizen you probably should be concerned about giving your data to the US government...

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  4. John Tserkezis
    Thumb Down

    Data mining aside...

    ...going on my past experience with China - everything is done half-arsed - what makes you think your data is still going to be there tomorrow?

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  5. phear46

    if your data is that important...

    Dont stick it in the cloud, get it on another hard drive/cd/tape backup (preferebly all three) and have it stored in a weather/fireproof box buried at the bottom of the garden....

    Very few files of my own files are likely to outlive the life of the HDD they are on, the ones that are important are emailed to my self, the really important ones are on multiple cd's. Anything media wise is to big to upload to the net anyway.... Or its already available for streaming somewhere.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: if your data is that important...

      he really important ones are on multiple cd's

      ROTFL.

      and, on a serious note, I would recommend you do give those cds a spin every couple of weeks. Cause, spin or no spin, those I burned a few years back are all f****, and I did store them carefully, as at that point in my life I was still oblivious to the "up to" part of the "up to 500 years storage life" claim.

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      1. phear46
        Reply Icon

        Re: if your data is that important...

        Ive had various success with CDs, I've got some ancient cake box of these yellow things that seem very good, I've literally had them years and still work fine, I've had others that haven't survived the burn, and others where like you say, they work a few times and then they are coasters.

        Very hit and miss, tbh anything media wise is on a spare HDD stored in a box in the wardrobe, gets synched every now and again when I can be botherd. There are very few 'cannot lose this' files on my home pc anyway.

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        1. Danny 14
          Reply Icon

          Re: if your data is that important...

          DansData had this great article on how to print data and scan back for archival purposes. Sure it is only a few KB per page but still that is great for archiving important (encrypted) documents.

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  6. b166er

    @CmdrX3, So option 'b' accounts for data farms located pretty much anywhere in the world then?

    Surely one can provide an intermediary encryption layer?

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  7. Martin 47

    Funnily enough I trust the Chinese with my data in a cloud about as much as I trust the USA, which probably explains why I am a ludite that stores nothing of any importance solely in any bloody cloud.

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  8. Barry Dingle

    Does it come with fries?

    "Mcloud" sounds like the name for a McDonalds wifi network.

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    1. Not_The_Droids
      Reply Icon
      Trollface

      Or a big sword?

      Since we're talking Apple in the same sentence...

      "There can be only one".

      Con or Mcloud... you decide!

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  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Big deal

    What's the difference between storing on Chinese servers where your data might get watched vs say Amazon or other US owned companies which are subject to the Patriot Act ? And have I not been reading over the past year about various 'western' clouds going down ? As far as I'm concerned they can all phuck off as none of my personal files are going on any of them, nor are business ones.

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  10. Anonymous Coward
    Holmes

    Does it matter where you store it?

    If you care about privacy, you should encrypt it whether it is stored in China or stored in Amazon's, Apple's or Google's cloud. If it is something where privacy is unimportant, like your mp3 collection, then it doesn't matter where you store it - though presumably the network would be faster from a cloud that isn't on the other side of the globe!

    I think one should assume that any cloud provider will give up everything to the local government, anyone who believes their government is better in this regard than the US or Chinese is fooling themselves. Between the two, I'd rather have the Chinese government get hold of my stuff than the US government. China has less reason to care about digging into my private information. Likewise a Chinese citizen should rather use a US based cloud than China Mobile's (though China's great firewall may block this)

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  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hack yourself so Chinese don't need to it

    Great idea, upload your files to China Mobile Mcloud, save them hacking into your setup. I think the NSA thought of it first, with google cloud.

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  12. Tony Paulazzo

    >given the paranoia that exists around Chinese firms, especially in the US<

    I'd personally trust the Chinese cloud more... not such good extradition possibilities if you leave a note saying something like 'Fuck the Chinese authorities' compared to the stupid FBI or CIA twats finding a note that says 'Fuck the American intelligence agencies' demanding your presence in a kangaroo - sorry, American court.

    >anyone who believes their government is better in this regard than the US or Chinese is fooling themselves.<

    As a British citizen I would be more than happy to use a British cloud service, for tho' our government is as corrupt and wanting to spy on their own citizens, as the others, I still kind'a trust them more.

    'Time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so.' Ford Prefect.

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  13. mhenriday
    Big Brother

    «However, given the paranoia that exists around Chinese firms,

    especially in the US, it remains to be seen how enthusiastic customers will be about China Mobile having hold of their data.» To which paranoia, of course, Phil is ever ready, as his every posting on China on the Reg has demonstrated, to contribute. As others commentators have noted, all data storage companies, no matter their location - and in the US, public libraries which are required, if so ordered, to inform the FBI of which books loaners have borrowed, but enjoined from informer the loaner that this information has been passed on - are going to make one's files available to the government if requested/required to do so. Anyone who thinks otherwise is blissfully unaware of the notion of «sovereign powers» exercised by a state. Encryption is, as pointed out above, one alternative, others DvDs, external harddisks, or tape, depending upon how much data one needs to store. There are also, not to be forgotten, courses in mnemonics....

    Henri

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