Hawkins spoke with Bloomberg about data storage amid Snapchat announcing it will begin charging users for its in-app storage feature.
Assistant Teaching Professor of Economics Devon Hawkins spoke with Bloomberg about the cost of data storage following the social media app Snapchat announcing it would begin charging some users for its in-app storage.
The app announced last September that it would begin charging users for its in-app storage called “Memories” when usage exceeds five gigabytes. Anyone over that threshold was notified and given a year of temporary storage. The article highlights how its causing some users to lose access to imporant life milestones and memories.
“People think cloud storage is this invisible thing floating in the sky,” said Hawkins. “Those servers live in massive data centers that require land, buildings, electricity, cooling systems, engineering, cybersecurity and thousands of people to keep everything running. That infrastructure isn’t free, and eventually someone must pay for it.”