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Google Drive may restrict files identified as violating ToS

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Re: Google Drive may restrict files identified as violating ToS

#181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People have been using password protected archives to get around pirated content restrictions since forever.

Does Google even have to look at the content? I assume most pirated content will also have a massive number of anonymous downloads, and shouldn't that trigger some fair-usage clause somewhere ?

They block upload even if you're not sharing it.

Re: Google Drive may restrict files identified as violating ToS

#182

Meaning Google has access to all of the files stored on Google Drive, including and not limited to: - your business secrets - GDPR data that you legitimately have This is exactly why I do not use Google Drive for anything business critical.

Note that client side encryption changes this https://support.google.com/a/answer/10741897?hl=en.

Re: Google Drive may restrict files identified as violating ToS

#183

When google said they were no longer giving way free storage I bought the cheapest 100GB google one plan for $20/yr. Last night I saw the renewal email and cancelled it. After nearly 10 years of Google usage including drive, email, and pictures (I rarely take videos) I have only ~30GB. Almost 15GB of that is in drive which is a simple "my docks" kind of backup and dumping ground. I'm moving my drive stuff to a cheap…

You might still want to backup to a different location, given VPS's aren't immune to data loss. rclone with encryption works and ensures you are the only one with access to your data. https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/technology/amazon-aws-... https://www.techzine.eu/news/infrastructure/57005/ovh-share-...

At home I have an actual server that's a secondary (Xeon w/32GB ECC running FreeBSD w/20TB ZFS). Likely just use rsync between them.

Re: Google Drive may restrict files identified as violating ToS

#184
post #14
post #10

I believe this may be due to the popular spamming method lately which is tagging people into a Google Docs and share it so everyone receives a notification (the spam message). It works better than regular email spam since apparently Gmail doesn't treat Google Docs notification email as spam (at least not as often).

there is also a method for sharing pirated media using google drive. TBH I'm surprised they havent started earlier

So basically: piracy, spam or anything you'd get into legal trouble for doing on your own hardware, Google restricts on their hardware. I can't really see how that's surprising or strange.

Re: Google Drive may restrict files identified as violating ToS

#185
post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are spreading misinformation. I don’t know if on purpose or ignorance. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/child-sexual-abuse-scans-apple-... They were very much planning to scan all photos on the device independent of iCloud. It was going to be another phase of the rollout. It was going to be in iOS 15.x and they backpedaled.

I think that's just imprecision on the part of noted tech news outlet CBS. Apple clearly documented that this was only for iCloud uploaded photos, and indeed the technical description makes clear that this is only designed to work with uploaded photos: https://www.apple.com/child-safety/pdf/CSAM_Detection_Techni... .

Apple clearly said they scan the photos on your phone not in your cloud account. They say it is designed to work with iCloud photos and they are processed / scanned on your photo before they are uploaded to the cloud.

Not sure why they would need to do that. It does open up your phone for scanning and uses beyond what they initially layout.

Re: Google Drive may restrict files identified as violating ToS

#186
post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Apple's CSAM would scan your offline photos. Apple's plan was to to scan photos that you uploaded to iCloud, only. Even that plan was canceled. Google, however, still does scan everything in your account and has been doing so for the past decade. For instance, this article from 2014: >a man [was] arrested on child pornography charges, after Google tipped off authorities about illegal images found in the Houston susp…

As does Dropbox, Aol, Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook, etc, etc. Whether this is good or bad is a topic for fair debate, I think, but it continues to astound me both how little people are aware of this and that, in comparison, Apple's relatively privacy-preserving approach generated so much flak.

Apple iCloud is in that list.

And you still need to scan local photos on the phone?

Re: Google Drive may restrict files identified as violating ToS

#187
post #185
post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's just imprecision on the part of noted tech news outlet CBS. Apple clearly documented that this was only for iCloud uploaded photos, and indeed the technical description makes clear that this is only designed to work with uploaded photos: https://www.apple.com/child-safety/pdf/CSAM_Detection_Techni... .

Apple clearly said they scan the photos on your phone not in your cloud account. They say it is designed to work with iCloud photos and they are processed / scanned on your photo before they are uploaded to the cloud. Not sure why they would need to do that. It does open up your phone for scanning and uses beyond what they initially layout.

Yeah, I think this is what freaked everyone out, but it's pretty clear the intention of on-device scanning was that it would work even if they had client-side encryption of photos before upload .

The whole point of the protocol (as described in the Apple whitepaper) is to allow clients to attest to perceptual hash matches without the server having access to the plaintext.

So, the irony of all of this is that the Apple design is effectively more private than the status quo, but everyone freaks out about it.

Re: Google Drive may restrict files identified as violating ToS

#188
post #63
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are plenty email providers out there. Free and paid. It should not be a problem for anyone to switch. Moving off of Gmail doesn't mean to self host. It is a bit of work to tell anyone about your new address, but that's it.

What about the hundreds of other accounts that use your gmail as either the 2FA target or password reset? For a non-technical user (like my mom), this is a herculean task.

If you need a password reset do it and use the reminder to change the email. If your mom signed up for hundreds of accounts she should be saavy enough to handle the account update.

Re: Google Drive may restrict files identified as violating ToS

#189
post #10

I believe this may be due to the popular spamming method lately which is tagging people into a Google Docs and share it so everyone receives a notification (the spam message). It works better than regular email spam since apparently Gmail doesn't treat Google Docs notification email as spam (at least not as often).

The files are not removed or blocked, they just can't be shared publicly:

> When it’s restricted, you may see a flag next to the filename, you won’t be able to share it, and your file will no longer be publicly accessible

So it's probably a combination of things, including piracy. They're not forbidding people from storing or retrieving the files, just not allowing anyone to publicly host whatever they want on Google's servers. Seems reasonable.

Re: Google Drive may restrict files identified as violating ToS

#190
post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless they decide that encrypted files violate their TOS.

Which should be a red flag not to use the service because they're collecting your data for any and all reasons.

This is your redflag
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