Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled

dropboxforum.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 249 posts

Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled

#111

Post by geophile »

japanuspus wrote: post #95
mikae1 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or use an open source client without telemetry such as https://maestral.app ㋡

This. Recently came back to macOS after a decade on the other side, and one surprise was how terrible the official Dropbox client was. Installed Maestral instead and it just works -- just like Dropbox used to. I see Dropbox as one of the biggest failures of the VC model. If only they had been bootstrapped, they would probably have stuck with their initial sync offering: A perfectly executed solution to a problem ever…

Yeah, I remember when they were briefly going to solve the problem of being a universal translator of file formats. They announced this at a conference I attended and I could see the thought bubbles of everyone in the audience: What? That will fail, are you nuts?

Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled

#112

Post by intelVISA »

layer8 wrote: post #93
philip1209 wrote: post #65

I finally got off of Dropbox recently in favor of the iCloud with "Advanced Data Protection", i.e. end-to-end encryption. People tend to think that "Tech Independence" [1] and "The Cloud" are at odds with each other. But, end-to-end encrypted services that sync via the cloud really are the best of both worlds - convenient and secure. [1] https://sive.rs/ti

I run Boxcryptor (the unpaid version with local keys) on top of Dropbox. They have recently been acquired by Dropbox, so I’m hoping that Dropbox will be integrating E2EE as well. (Of course that doesn’t solve the telemetry issue.)

E2EE telemetry ;)

Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled

#113

Post by intelVISA »

weberer wrote: post #26
bheadmaster wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see a trend of software engineers that don't see users as someone who they are providing service to - they see them as just one element of a machine they're optimizing to make their software better. They feel that the engineering quest itself is the most important thing in the world, so they feel entitled to any and all data they are technically capable of collecting. It's a shame. I wish more engineers would see t…

If you asked me which part of the company decided to shove telemetry in the product, my last guess would be the software engineers.

SWEs in those camps are mostly "just following orders" I've heard.

Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled

#114

Post by alkonaut »

krono wrote: post #109
alkonaut wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I’m saying is that the GDPR is irrelevant unless there is data collected that counts as PII. Collecting non PII isn’t covered by the GDPR. So yes there are two things: GDPR which is irrelevant here, and storage of non-PII which should be done transparently because it’s polite to be transparent, but not a regulatory requirement.

False, I will rephrase: it is a regulatory requirement under the GDPR to disclose the fact that you are collecting data, to provide a detailed and easily accessible specification of the information contents, a precise definition of how this data is processed and used, and your legal justification(s) for doing so, and to do so for each separate type or kind of collection involving individuals, regardless of whether th…

> it is a regulatory requirement to disclose the fact that you are collecting data

Not if the data isn't PII, no. Not in any way shape or form.

> The few exceptions that exist are only applicable in cases where there is no potentially identifiable data collected at all

The whole point of collecting "anonymous usage data" (which is what telemetry usually does) is that it shouldn't be possible to attribute to a physical person, and thus not be PII. As an extreme example, you could take the most typical form of telemetry: a feature usage count. When a feature is used, the telemetry collects a (+1) for that feature. The only long term stored data is the total count N for each feature across the entire user base. Of course there is no PII stored.

> which is obviously not the case here.

Why do you say that it's "obviously" not the case, when there is no indication about what data it is, other than the Dropbox representative saying precisely that there is no PII collected so the GDPR isn't relevant? There may be PII (in which case they are both at fault for not disclosing, and complete asshats for lying in the support forum). But it would be a pretty uninteresting discussion once one assumes that...

Obligatory "I'm not a lawyer either but I've implemented telemetry in software and had those implementations thuroughly analyzed by lawyers a couple of times"

Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled

#115

Post by generalizations »

mikae1 wrote: post #39
aunty_helen wrote: post #15

Wouldn't get this with a FTP account, mounting it locally with curlftpfs, and then using SVN or CVS on the mounted filesystem.

Or use an open source client without telemetry such as https://maestral.app ㋡

Eh. Just set up syncthing. Came back to it about a year ago, and it's worked flawlessly across 5+ devices with ~8 synced folders ever since.

Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled

#117

Post by armchairhacker »

mejutoco wrote: post #69
armchairhacker wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember when Dropbox was new and it was possibly the only solution I could find to seamlessly sync files on multiple computers (or at least the only one I knew about). There was this "Dropbox" folder in your home folder, and anything put in there would show up in the home folder on your other computer or operating system or eventually even your phone. I also knew about Apple File Sharing and it was basically that…

I use git to sync code. Do you use it for images, too? Maybe using a large file extension. Dropbox syncs around 2TB of random files successfully, and it seems like that is not something git it very good at (judging by game developers using Perforce or others to share files). I am always open for recommendations to replace Dropbox. Even Gdrive (one of the most obvious alternatives) choked on performing the initial syn…

Git LFS for large files. Or you may need to use a dedicated service designed for syncing so much data

I’m surprised dropbox handles those well. Unless things changed the free tier still has a <1TB storage limit. But it goes to show much it “just works”

Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled

#118

Post by geophile »

popey wrote: post #34

I switched away from Dropbox to Syncthing https://syncthing.net/ a few years ago. Running it on Windows, Mac and Linux (I don't use it on mobile) to keep all manner of files in sync across a bunch of machines. While it doesn't have all the shell integration and end-user friendliness of Dropbox, it also doesn't have the pitfalls like (non-optional) telemetry and constant up-sell.

I use Dropbox for transfers between Linux and iOS, so syncthing doesn’t help. Is there something similar that supports iOS?

Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled

#119

Post by eloisius »

popey wrote: post #34

I switched away from Dropbox to Syncthing https://syncthing.net/ a few years ago. Running it on Windows, Mac and Linux (I don't use it on mobile) to keep all manner of files in sync across a bunch of machines. While it doesn't have all the shell integration and end-user friendliness of Dropbox, it also doesn't have the pitfalls like (non-optional) telemetry and constant up-sell.

Syncthing saved my ass last month. My Framework laptop got stolen while I was traveling. I was able to pick up a second-hand MacBook Air, connect it to my introducer, and within a few hours I had all my files back.

I have a Pi with software RAID and two HDDs running Syncthing in my apartment. I rent a cheap Storage VPS from time4vps.com which is untrusted and set as an introducer--meaning, the data is encrypted before it reaches the VPS, and as an introducer it will announce devices to one another. My (former) laptop and an iMac where I do all my work are always in sync. If I need to add a new device, I only have to connect it to the VPS and suddenly all the other devices know of it.

Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled

#120

Post by michael9k »

vvillena wrote: post #62
ketzu wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh they increased to 2TB? (Seems it was around 2019... wow I am not up to date! https://venturebeat.com/business/dropbox-increases-plus-plan... ) Back when I decided which cloud storage to use, all the big ones were at 1TB and dorpbox was the most expensive with the least features, while microsofts offer included office 365 for nearly half the price. Right now it seems: MS 6$/mo for 1TB + Office ( https://www.microso…

The main advantage for Dropbox is that file sync works flawlessly. I've had issues with Onedrive and Google Drive in the past. Maybe they fixed those, but I can't trust them anymore.

Agree. I am forced to use OneDrive when I do consultation work for one of my customers, still works like crap compared to Dropbox with slow syncing etc.
Post reply on HN