Stop calling it ‘the cloud’, start selling t-shirts…

Graham Cluley
Graham Cluley
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Stop calling it 'the cloud', start selling t-shirts...

A couple of years ago, I said something to the press that became a minor meme.

My suggestion was that people should “stop calling it ‘the cloud'” and start referring to it as “somebody else’s computer” instead.

After all, as soon as you start using language like that, your brain makes an important shift when it comes to thinking about privacy and security considerations.

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Security Memetics refined things further, suggesting “There is no cloud, just other people’s computers”.

Lo-and-behold today you can purchase any number of t-shirts and stickers bearing the message, many using an image designed by Chris Watterston.

Don’t believe me? Check out “The many faces of There is no cloud“.

I wish I had been so entrepreneurial. I haven’t made a single cent out of it!


Graham Cluley is an award-winning keynote speaker who has given presentations around the world about cybersecurity, hackers, and online privacy. A veteran of the computer security industry since the early 1990s, he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows, makes regular media appearances, and is the co-host of the popular "The AI Fix" and "Smashing Security" podcasts. Follow him on Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads, or drop him an email.

4 comments on “Stop calling it ‘the cloud’, start selling t-shirts…”

  1. Elliot Alderson

    that's exactly like:
    There is no drought here in the US, because all the water is now stock piled and bottled in warehouses being sold to you sheeple.

    #FunFact: there is exactly the same amount of water on earth today as there was 7,000 years ago.

    #FunFact: you never own beer, you only rent it.

  2. Simon

    Agreed.

    Just another buzz word to articulate was a 'remote server room' is to non-technical folk…

  3. Martin

    Ah yes, the Cloud! The next big mis-selling scandal just waiting to happen. Actually it is not just someone else's computer but someone else's computer with another someone else acting as a middle man/reseller between you and the ultimate host and sticking a markup on for doing absolutely nothing. So, not really even the Cloud at all in the truest meaning of it.

  4. Tony

    Cloud…big fluffy thing in the sky?

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