Data centre for what data?

July 29, 2026

While I’m not against data centres and I’m all for renewable energy – especially in regional towns which were connected to ’the grid’ in the deep and often dark past (maybe we don’t need the grid with solar wind and batteries?) – I would like to find out what data is so important that we suddenly need to spend billions on collecting it.

Is it like my bank who pestered me to update the details on my credit card of 20 + years when AI sent me and thousands of other SMS’ and emails demanding the update? (Now I’m Fred John Nurk when for all those years Fred J Nurk was fine). Or is it so eventually they can charge all the people with family snaps on their phone for storing photos that as generations go by no one will look at, and if they do won’t know who they are?

Although if as requested you have turned on location data on your phone they will know where and when they were taken, but wait long enough and AI and face recognition may be able to recognise Aunt Else – for a charge .