Infopocalypse: The Cost of Too Much Data

“Going digital” was supposed to be an environmentally conscious way for governments to cut costs while improving efficiency. But it hasn’t quite worked out that way yet. Storage capacity is increasing, but the volume of data is also increasing, perhaps just as quickly. Over the next decade, the world will produce the informational equivalent of nearly 100 million Libraries of Congress per year, according to Cisco’s Internet Business Solutions Group. Most of what the government stores are public records, which means that by law they must be made available to anyone who requests them. But while there are ambitious efforts underway to improve storage methods, the sheer bulk of information is alarming.

By Chris Faraone, Boston Phoenix 

(via thesmithian)