Whilst writing a recent post on IT Pro the notion came to me that we may be losing the grip of our business data. The time was when data was precious, it was stored and processed on our physical site and all manner of controls are in place to ensure it stays where it is supposed to be.

However, with the rise of Web services and the usefulness and mobility of the information contained upon the Internet - it does seem very much that we are losing the control of our information.

For example many online email services have no provision for the user to back up important information but are we to be assured that our data is safe in the hands of people we have never met and will likely never see. Also, if we have a legal obligation to retrieve mail from a number of years ago can we be sure this information will be forthcoming to us?

The usefulness of Web services is such that we may allow the grip on our data to loosen slightly however the move towards the Internet as a platform, providing online office applications leads to the idea that business critical files may end up stored outside of the corporate centre. Can this really be a good thing - especially with data seemingly being lost all over the place?