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Google Drive could soon start locking your files

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Re: Google Drive could soon start locking your files

#84

Aside from legitimate DMCAs what I'm worried about is losing backupped files of any sort because some rogue individual files a complaint on stuff they don't own or because of an ML error and an inexistent customer service by Google. Also I don't really like the service to sneak onto any files I upload. What alternatives do we have for cloud file backup? I already do full backups, need something to sync files between…

An owncloud droplet or owncloud on a VPS. Or an owncloud paid instance. All depends on your budget and your needs and your time.

I totally switched off Dropbox when they limited the number of devices. Self host owncloud on a VPS, am very happy. From time to time I have to occ:upgrade something et voilà. Used for syncing, not backing up.

It helps that I can install and maintain it though, wouldn't recommend it to anyone without a bit of wed/IT experience or the time to lean some basics.

Re: Google Drive could soon start locking your files

#85
post #6

I will never forget that the Christchurch shooting video was automatically deleted from users' PRIVATE Google Drive and Dropbox - no warnings were given and no explanation was presented.

It would have been interesting if any of those users who got their video file deleted would have been directly attached to the shooter (like an accomplice, let's say), afaik that would have meant that Google Driver and Dropbox had tampered evidence.

Re: Google Drive could soon start locking your files

#86
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whaaat? Link please

They removed it after they began using GIFCT to ‘prevent terrorists and violent extremists from exploiting digital platforms.’ All hashed versions of that video was removed from user accounts. Page 16 : https://www.oecd.org/officialdocuments/publicdisplaydocument...

I haven't had my coffee yet, but I'm having trouble understanding your claims (about Google Drive deleting TVEC content) and how they relate to the OECD document you linked. That document does not state that Google (except YouTube) is a member of GIFCT. Further, on page 124 (in "Policies") of the document it states that Google Drive will prevent sharing of files it finds violating, or maybe ban an entire account in some situations.

Am I missing something here?

Re: Google Drive could soon start locking your files

#88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For reference, I use FLAC instead of MP3. Your collection may be larger, but my ~12,000 FLAC files take less than 500GB. So I'd say it's a question of value: You could have redundant copies of your music for ~$300 CAD with a pair of Samsung T5 SSDs, or you could someday lose every email, contact, photo, document, Youtube playlist, and MP3 you use Google for. I'm not saying it's likely, but it only has to be a one-in-…

How redundant are SSDs actually? I've been doing offline backups, but the OCD kicks in and I start wondering how many I should actually have and how often I should replace them...

I think the general consensus is that you shouldn't just leave them on a shelf for more than a year and that there is some temperature dependency in there.

If you really care about the data, two+ backups stored in different places is completely reasonable. Note that "places" is not limited by physical as trying to maintain independent dependency chains (e.g. a durable storage provider may decide to cut off account access so maybe a second independent storage provider using a different credit card makes sense)

Your OCD may also be helped a bit by having some way to verify you backups (e.g. use ZFS and scrub regularly and/or separate hash manifests of the files).

Re: Google Drive could soon start locking your files

#90
post #56
post #6

I will never forget that the Christchurch shooting video was automatically deleted from users' PRIVATE Google Drive and Dropbox - no warnings were given and no explanation was presented.

Perhaps I'm sensitive as a NZer, but would you feel the same if the deleted document was a plan for a nuclear weapon etc? Though while giving a warning is clearly inappropriate, they should certainly have explained what they did.

Having principles mean you support those even for the people you disagree the most with.

In this case, people could have had the video because they agreed with the shooter, to using it to show people how horrible terror really is.

Regardless, I fully support peoples right to have videos of terrible events.

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