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The advent of cloud computing only furthers the revolution. We can access a world of applications once available only on expensive computers. Servers can store our information and deliver it to anyone, anywhere. Our data is only a click away.

At least that is how it is supposed to work.

Both the greatest advantage and greatest risk of cloud computing is the cloud itself. In a perfect scenario, our data is uploaded to a server for our immediate retrieval later. We can do what we wish with it. If we want to mash it up, send it out; slice it, dice it--it does not matter.

The data is ours and the server exists to facilitate access and exchange.

But it can all go wrong. As we become more accepting of offloading our data on to servers outside of our control, we lose our fundamental control over our data, regardless of however much we might trust the intermediaries who now possess it. This point was made bluntly in Vietnam.

There are over 20 million Internet users in Vietnam, but the economics of the Web are still developing. As a result, it is tough to run some services profitably. Yahoo! 360, the most-used blogging platform in Vietnam decided enough was enough. They shut their doors and looked to migrate their userbase. From a business perspective, this was a very clear-cut decision. However, the millions of bloggers on their platform suddenly discovered their posts, photos, comments--for many, a record of their life online--would be moved or sold off to another company. They learned the hard way that once you upload something, it truly is no longer yours.

Fortunately this story is not a cautionary tale as much as a somber reminder. As I mentioned before, the greatest advantage of cloud computing is the cloud itself. As one service in Vietnam started to transition, another one aleady trusted by Vietnamese users stepped in to ensure people could preserve the data they spent years creating.

My Opera is one of the more popular blogging services in Vietnam. In response to the dire situation, we created an import tool so that bloggers using Yahoo! 360 have a way out and a means of preserving those things so special and vital to them. Unfortunately, a lack of APIs and open tools made it difficult, but our crack engineering team has been able to put together a solution. The beauty of the Web is that the good things often trump the disappointments.

The Web is the great equalizer of our times. Perhaps the digital divide still exists, but when we put users first we can hasten its end.