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Some Google Photos videos in backups were sent to strangers in November

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Re: Some Google Photos videos in backups were sent to strangers in November

#11

Post by brenden2 »

The usual argument for using "cloud" over managing your own files/data is that it's very hard to safely manage your own data without making mistakes (data loss, etc). However, this is an example of how companies like Google also make mistakes. Furthermore, when Google/FB makes a mistake (like leaking your private data) they do it at a global scale.

I offboarded myself from all of Google's services a while ago, but I also think "cloud" is dead, at least in the cases where the cloud service holds the encryption keys on my behalf. I don't trust, and never will trust, any company to hold on to my data without either selling it to a third party or accidentally leaking it.

Re: Some Google Photos videos in backups were sent to strangers in November

#13

Post by jimbob45 »

brenden2 wrote: post #11

The usual argument for using "cloud" over managing your own files/data is that it's very hard to safely manage your own data without making mistakes (data loss, etc). However, this is an example of how companies like Google also make mistakes. Furthermore, when Google/FB makes a mistake (like leaking your private data) they do it at a global scale. I offboarded myself from all of Google's services a while ago, but I…

What do you use for email over Gmail?

Re: Some Google Photos videos in backups were sent to strangers in November

#14

Post by brenden2 »

jimbob45 wrote: post #13
brenden2 wrote: post #11

The usual argument for using "cloud" over managing your own files/data is that it's very hard to safely manage your own data without making mistakes (data loss, etc). However, this is an example of how companies like Google also make mistakes. Furthermore, when Google/FB makes a mistake (like leaking your private data) they do it at a global scale. I offboarded myself from all of Google's services a while ago, but I…

What do you use for email over Gmail?

I use fastmail. I'm a happy customer.

Re: Some Google Photos videos in backups were sent to strangers in November

#15

Post by agos »

dsd wrote: post #12
kerng wrote: post #5

This is big, and has GDPR fine written all over it. And I'm sure this will not be the last time we hear about this. Also, very curious to learn more of the technical details down the road?

Does gdpr forbid mistakes?

no, but it does mandate to notify the people affected by the error/breach/fudge up. I wonder if they would have notified anyone if it wasn't for GDPR.

Re: Some Google Photos videos in backups were sent to strangers in November

#16

Post by gmac »

dsd wrote: post #12
kerng wrote: post #5

This is big, and has GDPR fine written all over it. And I'm sure this will not be the last time we hear about this. Also, very curious to learn more of the technical details down the road?

Does gdpr forbid mistakes?

Well, it wouldn't do a lot of good otherwise, since I'm pretty sure most data breaches aren't committed deliberately. The point is you should have measures in place that prevent those sorts of mistakes.

Re: Some Google Photos videos in backups were sent to strangers in November

#17

Post by swiley »

jimbob45 wrote: post #13
brenden2 wrote: post #11

The usual argument for using "cloud" over managing your own files/data is that it's very hard to safely manage your own data without making mistakes (data loss, etc). However, this is an example of how companies like Google also make mistakes. Furthermore, when Google/FB makes a mistake (like leaking your private data) they do it at a global scale. I offboarded myself from all of Google's services a while ago, but I…

What do you use for email over Gmail?

Opensmtpd is very easy to set up.

Re: Some Google Photos videos in backups were sent to strangers in November

#18

Post by jkaunisv1 »

jimbob45 wrote: post #13
brenden2 wrote: post #11

The usual argument for using "cloud" over managing your own files/data is that it's very hard to safely manage your own data without making mistakes (data loss, etc). However, this is an example of how companies like Google also make mistakes. Furthermore, when Google/FB makes a mistake (like leaking your private data) they do it at a global scale. I offboarded myself from all of Google's services a while ago, but I…

What do you use for email over Gmail?

I used Fastmail until they randomly deleted a large chunk of my emails and the support followup was abysmal (one email a day around 4am EST) with no ability to recover, explanation or apology on their part.

It was the push I needed to set up a Mailinabox instance. It was a breeze to install and has been working great since I spun it up four months ago.

Re: Some Google Photos videos in backups were sent to strangers in November

#19

Post by gman83 »

brenden2 wrote: post #11

The usual argument for using "cloud" over managing your own files/data is that it's very hard to safely manage your own data without making mistakes (data loss, etc). However, this is an example of how companies like Google also make mistakes. Furthermore, when Google/FB makes a mistake (like leaking your private data) they do it at a global scale. I offboarded myself from all of Google's services a while ago, but I…

Google Photos is pretty great though. My use case for it is that even though it's private, I assume that any photo on there could become public.

Re: Some Google Photos videos in backups were sent to strangers in November

#20

Post by brenden2 »

gman83 wrote: post #19
brenden2 wrote: post #11

The usual argument for using "cloud" over managing your own files/data is that it's very hard to safely manage your own data without making mistakes (data loss, etc). However, this is an example of how companies like Google also make mistakes. Furthermore, when Google/FB makes a mistake (like leaking your private data) they do it at a global scale. I offboarded myself from all of Google's services a while ago, but I…

Google Photos is pretty great though. My use case for it is that even though it's private, I assume that any photo on there could become public.

I, too, was a fan of Google Photos in the early days. But I've decided that privacy is more important than the convenience of its syncing feature. You never know how that data might come back and bite you in the future.

I have an iPhone but I don't use iCloud's backup or sync feature either, I just store my photos locally. I backup my iPhone to my iMac, and I backup my iMac to my Synology NAS in my closet. I try to keep my private data private.

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