We are talking about the future. In the future your data might be more safe in the cloud than on your own device, just like your money is more safe in a bank than in your wallet. It's possible.
Backup device manufaturers are really missing out on big bucks by not making a small NAS that downloads all you cloud data. Give it access to Google/Dropbox/Flickr etc an have it silently back everything up.
I hope they've thought of this and I've just missed it. They won't be able to sell USB based backup drives for much longer.
IOMega used to make a NAS with support for foldershare (the dropbox predecessor that was sold to Microsoft). That was 6 years ago - before it's time I'd guess.
The device 'Time Machine' by Apple does exactly that.
No it doesn't, it backsup your Macs over wifi, and that's all it does. It won't access web services, which is they key point I was trying to make. The Time Capsule, and all home backup devices I can name, make the soon-to-be-outdated assumption that your data exists on a hard drive you own.
Well more elaborately your mac can access all web services and download all data which can then be wirelessly backed up by the time machine.
For example my Dropbox folder is automatically synced on my mac which is then automatically backed up by the time machine.
Wouldn’t login sniffing on these supposedly dumb machines be a greater concern? Murders are more common within families after all.
While the I/O from those plugged-in devices could still be sniffed, including what appears on a screen, at least you could encrypt your communication when using a portable device.
And by "lately" I mean the past decade.
Don't get me wrong, I like the convenience of "the cloud". It's especially helpful in synchronizing all the data that I have on cheap and abundant storage on various devices.
We can have both. Why advocate giving up the one option that makes you independent from third party interference (or simply a lack of connectivity)?