They only mention that the company pays for the internet service but I'd assume traffic/speed from a home could also be an issue. I mean the average home network connections aren't exactly amazing so what can be hosted on these servers (I doubt it's cost efficient to provide new infrastructure for every home)?
German Cloud Company Offering Free Heat If You Have Room for Some of Its Servers
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Re: German Cloud Company Offering Free Heat If You Have Room for Some of Its Servers
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
You seem to think that this is a publicity stunt (rather than a sincere offer of heating services). I don't think it is.
Ignoring the technical difficulty of actually using the excess heat for reliably and consistently heating a building, it's hard to believe that the economics of connecting and servicing single cabinets randomly located all over the landscape could work out.
Maybe they're hoping that their biggest customers will be office buildings that have space to spare. Each building could house a fair number of servers.
Re: German Cloud Company Offering Free Heat If You Have Room for Some of Its Servers
#23You need to pay 12,000€ up front for 15 years of heating.
Unless they go bankrupt of course...
Re: German Cloud Company Offering Free Heat If You Have Room for Some of Its Servers
#24They only mention that the company pays for the internet service but I'd assume traffic/speed from a home could also be an issue. I mean the average home network connections aren't exactly amazing so what can be hosted on these servers (I doubt it's cost efficient to provide new infrastructure for every home)?
> A prerequisite for the use of Cloud&Heat is [...] an Internet connection of at least 50 Mbit/s
Re: German Cloud Company Offering Free Heat If You Have Room for Some of Its Servers
#25You need to pay 12,000€ up front for 15 years of heating. Unless they go bankrupt of course...
That is my major concern. I live in a fairly new average sized house in Germany with a modern heating system (heating pump) and pay about 1200€/year for heating. If I knew for sure that they exist in 15 years I would really consider it.
Re: German Cloud Company Offering Free Heat If You Have Room for Some of Its Servers
#26Excerpts from the contract:
"We install The Device in your house, free of charge. You receive heat. Do not ask about the function of The Device."
"You may hear a human voice coming from inside The Device. Ignore it."
"Some customers report having recurring dreams about The Device, this is normal."
"The Device comes in one colour: Impenetrable Blackness."
"Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it."
Re: German Cloud Company Offering Free Heat If You Have Room for Some of Its Servers
#27So now what happens when law enforcement shows up to the hosting company and tells them they're raiding some servers? Will this be seen as a way to impede and slow down large scale raids?
This is not possible here in germany. Even if they want to "raid" my flat-mate, they can't go to my rooms while doing it.
Very interesting. I bet that will be a big selling point for people considering this hosting service. Seems that it will be harder to put pressure on hundreds of individual residents, than it is to do so to a big centralized datacenter provider company.
Re: German Cloud Company Offering Free Heat If You Have Room for Some of Its Servers
#28> Security is a concern with these setups, because anyone’s data could be in anyone else’s house at a given time, but Cloud&Heat claims that since all of its data is encrypted and only its employees can open the cabinets that everyone’s information is safe.
Ladies and Gentlemen, i present: Bullshit. I wish companies with no clue about encryption would stop making these insane claims.
Re: German Cloud Company Offering Free Heat If You Have Room for Some of Its Servers
#29> Security is a concern with these setups, because anyone’s data could be in anyone else’s house at a given time, but Cloud&Heat claims that since all of its data is encrypted and only its employees can open the cabinets that everyone’s information is safe. Ladies and Gentlemen, i present: Bullshit. I wish companies with no clue about encryption would stop making these insane claims.
What is the attack you're envisaging?
Presumably they detect unauthorized case-intrusion and immediately delete the keys. This isn't foolproof, but it's probably good enough to stop anyone except the people that are going to get the data no matter what you do.
Re: German Cloud Company Offering Free Heat If You Have Room for Some of Its Servers
#30> Security is a concern with these setups, because anyone’s data could be in anyone else’s house at a given time, but Cloud&Heat claims that since all of its data is encrypted and only its employees can open the cabinets that everyone’s information is safe. Unless they've cracked the problem of practical fully homomorphic encryption, that data is still going to be unencrypted at some point in those units and vulnerab…
Rather than cracking the problem of practical fully homomorphic encryption, I think they're probably cracked the problem of deleting the keys when the physical security of the cabinet is compromised.