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Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled

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Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled

#141

Post by bomewish »

eloisius wrote: post #119
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 befor…

why not use the syncthing introducer thingy? You concerned they gonna spy on the packets or what?

Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled

#142

Post by digital_voodoo »

generalizations wrote: post #115
mikae1 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Worth mentioning that Syncthing doesn't have a cloud part, while DB does. That said, I've been running it since the very beginning, even before it became public/known, and it had never failed me so far.

Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled

#143

Post by hunter2_ »

alkonaut wrote: post #51

I get that for some classes of "local-only" apps like compilers (famous from a recent discussion on the same topic), network communication can be surprising and therefore feel unnecessary. But for an app whose sole purpose is sending and receiving lots of sensitive private data to Dropbox servers, who has the energy to be outraged that there is also some other anonymous data sent such as program crash info? I mean Dr…

I am on the fence as to whether I agree with you, but I'll embellish a certain aspect: these folks keep citing how the number of DNS lookups (what pihole reports/blocks) is extraordinary, exceeding all other vendors they use, which says pretty much nothing about the nature of the payload other than that Dropbox likely has very granular client uptime data. The client could cache the DNS response instead of doing so many lookups, and some amount of rage would disappear.

Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled

#144

Post by mejutoco »

armchairhacker wrote: post #117
mejutoco wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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”

Thanks. I am talking about a paid Dropbox and Gdrive plans.

Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled

#145

Post by zamnos »

alkonaut wrote: post #108
zamnos wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes but because your computer is sending its IP to Dropbox, you can't say, a priori, make the claim that the GDPR isn't an issue.

Of course not. It might send your medical records too. It will send the IP regardless of whether telemetry is enabled. But they do claim that no PII is stored for telemetry. Whenever the topic of Telemetry comes up I try to keep to the discussion about properly anonymous telemetry, simply because that’s where there is any discussion at all. If anyone transmit or stores anything they aren’t entitled to it’s obviously…

Just because the DNS entry says telemetry in the name doesn't mean a thing. Just like if they'd called it medical-records-here.dropbox.com and were only sending telemetry to it.

Whenever the topic of telemetry comes up, I try and point out that just because someone says it's just telemetry, it doesn't mean a damn thing. If anyone thinks it's not interesting because they think things are obviously always wrong, I ask them: what does telemetry mean to you? What does it mean to the company?

Are you sure those two definitions are in 100% agreement?

Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled

#146

Post by suddenclarity »

smittywerben wrote: post #29

I stopped using dropbox after finding it quarantines files. You won't know about this until you try to migrate off Dropbox. It just gives me the creeps now.

What does this mean in this context? I tried searching but couldn't find anything other than antivirus software sometimes quarantined files in their Dropbox folder which isn't really a Dropbox issue. Are Dropbox deleting files without notification?

Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled

#147

Post by ztnktl »

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…

If, a big if, you don't need version control, rsync will do. It can handle any imaginable amount of data and it can work over ssh or for local file syncing. It is much, much faster than other solutions too.

It is my main tool to manage things that aren't code, and I give myself the ability to go back to older files or undelete things in a KISS manner by having multiple rsync destinations that are used in rotation.

Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled

#148

Post by api »

doersino wrote: post #2

I’ve been using https://github.com/samschott/maestral instead of Dropbox’s client for the last year or so and it’s been rock-solid.

Anything like this for Google Drive? That client also used to be good but has become complete bloated trash in recent years.

It seems like all chat, conference, and collaboration software must devolve into bloated slow buggy trash over time.

Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled

#150

Post by scarface74 »

windock wrote: post #32
stewartmcgown wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Excellent reference

For reference, it is referred to the first comment under announcement of Dropbox https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863

This is the HN equivalent of “No wireless. Less space than the nomad. Lame” https://m.slashdot.org/story/21026
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