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Would you trust your personal files to a hard drive out on the Net?
Despite the privacy and security concerns many will have, the new service i-drive hopes to persuade you of the idea's remote benefits.
The company launched a free Web-based storage service Monday. The service will erase the line between personal files and Internet content, said i-drive CEO Jeff Bonforte.
"We allow you to store files and retrieve them from any Web-connected computer," Bonforte said. "We allow you to share files with friends and peers and transfer files easily."
I-drive targets consumers, students, and business travelers. It provides a Web-based drop-box that can hold content skimmed off the Internet as well as personal files. The company touts benefits including remote access to files from any browser and the ability to share content.
The company launched with agreements to provide services to several of the nation's top universities, including Stanford and Case Western Reserve.
The concept of Web-based file storage is not new, but i-drive wants to take it to a more elaborate level, establishing itself as the Hotmail of free, online file storage. By creating drives on the fly and sharing files, i-drive hopes the service will become a replacement for the hassle of adding attachments to email messages.
But that scenario causes the director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center to warn of moving more private electronic data to the Net.
"Personally I'd rather have my personal information in my personal computer and go to somebody else's computer for somebody else's information," said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).
The company argues that security on the Net is strong enough that most people will consider the benefits to outweigh the risks.
I-drive also plans to gradually scale the service to become an Internet hub holding files that will be processed by Net-based applications.
For example, i-drive storage could be used to save compressed graphics that are decompressed on the fly using a Web-based application.
"As applications move to the Web, the concept of centralized file storage becomes extremely important," Bonforte said. He estimates typical users could keep 10 percent of their files online.
But to some, all this Internetworked convenience comes with too much danger. EPIC's Rotenberg said despite the appeal, he wouldn't trust his own files to the current Internet.
"I think the risks outweigh the benefits," he said.
While i-drive will encrypt file transfers to Web-based folders, the company does not guarantee that the data will be kept secure.
The service's terms of use agreement says i-drive bears no liability for any of the data users store on the service. "Although information that you submit may be password-protected, i-drive does not guarantee the security of any information transmitted to or from this Web site."
Rotenberg said trusting files under that kind of an arrangement requires a huge leap of faith on the part of consumers.
But Bonforte said despite the user agreement, the data is in good hands. "I-drive has spent an enormous amount of money on scalability and reliability. Dual redundancy is a minimum."
The way i-drive protects files is similar to the way Amazon.com protects credit card numbers, he said.
"If you're going to spend time hacking a service, you should hack Amazon.com and get credit card numbers."
But he acknowledges that level of security still leaves a wary contingent of Web users out. "If you don't feel comfortable using your credit card on the Web, you probably will not feel comfortable putting secret documents on an i-drive."
Rotenberg also notes the threat of a federal subpoena, should an agency like the FBI come along demanding access to a user's private files.
"In the best of all worlds, that information would not be disclosed to law enforcement," but there's no clear law preventing that, Rotenberg said.
