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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

#31

Post by Daniel_sk »

brenden2 wrote: post #27
pgt wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What did you replace Gmail and GDocs with? I've successfully moved to Firefox and DuckDuckGo, but am struggling to get off Docs and Gmail.

Fastmail for mail, and I use git for most document-type storage. If I absolutely need a spreadsheet, I just use Apple's Numbers which is mostly crap, but good enough.

Another vote for Fastmail. They also have a very simple one-button import option for your gmail emails. The web UI is fast and simple. I love it. I tried ProtonMail, but there are numerous drawbacks because of full E2E (Must use their email clients on mobile, web client on web and bridge on desktop. Migration from ProtonMail requires to use their beta software. Full text search doesn’t exist - yet).

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

#32

Post by whatisthiseven »

SnowingXIV wrote: post #4

How does this happen? I realize it's a small percentage, but this is one of the first tests you build. Even 1 photo (not to mention this is regarding videos) should never make it to another non-authenticated user. This is a massive mistake.

I think, when discussing software, the phrase "should never" just doesn't belong. I have only a short software career, but of all the bugs and unintentional behavior I have read about failures small and big companies make, I am no longer surprised.

For that matter, software itself is full of surprising and undefined behavior, so it really shouldn't be a surprise that large corporations sometimes have "simple" mistakes that appear really big. That is just software in motion.

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

#33

Post by Daniel_sk »

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?

Fastmail.

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

#34

Post by captainbland »

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?

Not mistakes as such, but it'll probably invite an audit wherein they'll assess what strategies they took to mitigate a potential issue like this. If they're found to be inadequate and it also impacted a resident of the EU then maybe they'll slap them with a fine.

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

#35

Post by thedance »

SnowingXIV wrote: post #4

How does this happen? I realize it's a small percentage, but this is one of the first tests you build. Even 1 photo (not to mention this is regarding videos) should never make it to another non-authenticated user. This is a massive mistake.

I don't work at Google (any more) but I have seen bugs in large-scale production that served one user's data to another user, and both times it had the same cause: a developer stored user-specific data into a process-global singleton because the consequence of some java decorator was non-obvious. When the next user request came along they were served the previous user's information.

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

#36

Post by jrowley »

whatisthiseven wrote: post #32
SnowingXIV wrote: post #4

How does this happen? I realize it's a small percentage, but this is one of the first tests you build. Even 1 photo (not to mention this is regarding videos) should never make it to another non-authenticated user. This is a massive mistake.

I think, when discussing software, the phrase "should never" just doesn't belong. I have only a short software career, but of all the bugs and unintentional behavior I have read about failures small and big companies make, I am no longer surprised. For that matter, software itself is full of surprising and undefined behavior, so it really shouldn't be a surprise that large corporations sometimes have "simple" mistake…

Unintended software behavior exists on a spectrum and a great deal of it is preventable by learning from past mistakes. It’s unfortunate we don’t have more information about the nature of the underlying this issue.

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

#37

Post by syntheticnature »

surge wrote: post #21
brenden2 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 k…

One of the favorite features I have of the Plex Server, is that the Plex app will automatically back up photos on your phone to your Plex server, which can run on Synology as well (mine's on an ODroid HC connected up to a multi-TB drive with backup drive).

As someone for whom this was a bridge too far, thanks for the information. This is a useful alternative to pull it local and still get the syncing that was the reason I let Google photos mostly do as it pleased after I got a Pixel.

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

#38

Post by chooseaname »

brenden2 wrote: post #20
gman83 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 k…

I've submitted a feature request to the Photos app team for syncing to a network share as an alternative to iCloud. The Files app recently got network share support so here's to fingers crossed that Photos can get it too.

Edit: I want Photos app to have this feature. Other apps can do it on iOS but they have to play location services shenanigans to get it to work in the background and I don't do that. The Photos app has special abilities.

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

#39

Post by toomuchtodo »

Daniel_sk wrote: post #31
brenden2 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fastmail for mail, and I use git for most document-type storage. If I absolutely need a spreadsheet, I just use Apple's Numbers which is mostly crap, but good enough.

Another vote for Fastmail. They also have a very simple one-button import option for your gmail emails. The web UI is fast and simple. I love it. I tried ProtonMail, but there are numerous drawbacks because of full E2E (Must use their email clients on mobile, web client on web and bridge on desktop. Migration from ProtonMail requires to use their beta software. Full text search doesn’t exist - yet).

Another vote for Fastmail!

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

#40

Post by nappy-doo »

thedance wrote: post #35
SnowingXIV wrote: post #4

How does this happen? I realize it's a small percentage, but this is one of the first tests you build. Even 1 photo (not to mention this is regarding videos) should never make it to another non-authenticated user. This is a massive mistake.

I don't work at Google (any more) but I have seen bugs in large-scale production that served one user's data to another user, and both times it had the same cause: a developer stored user-specific data into a process-global singleton because the consequence of some java decorator was non-obvious. When the next user request came along they were served the previous user's information.

This guy injects @ Google.
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