Data centers: There's still a lot to learn about them

Data centers are being built in the United States at a rapid rate and while it’s said they require a lot of electricity and water to operate, which is environmentally concerning to many people, there’s still a lot we don’t know about the health impacts on people.

With that said, the large amount of property tax relief that a data center could bring to a small, rural community has many local officials scurrying to  possibly land one for their communities. After all, who does not want lower property taxes?

One example of health impacts of data centers involves the noise pollution from the constant hum of the data centers that operate 24/7, at decibels that are near, or exceed, federal recommendations.

Another example of the health impacts is the more complex psychological and physiological results of data centers collecting so much personalized information on everyone and how that information potentially could be used to manipulate and/or control people.

Did you know that data centers fuel the ever-growing demand for social media, artificial intelligence and streaming services that gives people access to seemingly limitless entertainment options?

The commentary on this page by John Richard Schrock also points out data centers collect the Internet tracking of your location, your purchases and your many other personal actions. It is one major driver for expanding “the cloud.”

For every positive feature of the data centers utilizing your personal information collected on the Internet, there are an expanding number of new features that invade your privacy, feeding a huge amount of information to data centers that in turn sells your unique wants, needs, desires, behaviors and much more to industries ready to pay money to expand their sales and services to unique individuals.

Before long, unless things change, every American citizen who possesses a cell phone or accesses the Internet will have a huge portfolio generated along with all the other 349 million Americans.

“Big Brother Is Watching You’’ is the slogan from George Orwell’s 1949 novel called “Nineteen Eighty Four’’ that is used today to describe the Internet data tracking, camera networks or anytime people feel their privacy is being invaded.

In theory, invasive surveillance controlled by unchecked organizations potentially could be utilized to control and monitor people’s thoughts and actions.

In Orwell’s novel, the country’s ruling party monitors its citizens using two-way television screens - not so much different than Siri listening in to your conversations on your cell phone.

Siri is a virtual assistant created by Apple. It uses voice commands and artificial intelligence to answer questions, set reminders and control smart devices. You can find it on iPhones, iPads, Macs and other Apple products.

In my opinion, the electricity and water consumption concerns and the noise pollution concerns of data centers all pale in comparison to the potential mental health concerns of having powerful and rich organizations that own and operate data centers know so much about each of us.

Naturally, there’s a fear that “Big Brother’’ might try to control us - even without us realizing it.

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It would be easy to just say “no’’ to data centers in your neighborhood, if they didn’t bring with them so darn much local economic development, however.

There is a data center proposed for Osawatomie now, for example, that local officials there are calling “transformational’’ regarding how it could change the local tax base.

The proposed multi-billion-dollar data center at Osawatomie could generate more than $30 million a year in city property taxes, washing away city debt and making propety taxes for city homeowners virtually a thing of the past.

In addition, Miami County could get $10 million in property taxes each year from the data center and the Osawatomie school district could get $10 million in propety taxes each year, also.

How can small communities say “no thanks’’ to such massive, local economic development?

There’s still a lot of homework to do on the subject of data centers, and what they are all about, but enough is known to make the issue seem very complex already.