What is the least evil cloud service? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: JPortici
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 27, 2022, 06:21:58 am
content: Semi rant: i'm going to upgrade to a new phone soon, i've grown tired of china phones with crappy android ports and cameras that will apply heavy filtering without you being able to disable it (takes a foto, look at it. five minutes later, it's different. A filter has been applied. Or move the camera one millimiter on the right and it decides that the green has to become green yellow, can't turn it off, can't get around it.)Also, i will use it for app develoment so i need to be able to run the latest crap google has to offer, my choice is going to be one of the Pixels.The problem is, besides the lack of headphone jack (but i get wireless charging! who cares!) there is also the lack of MicroSD, and i have a history of destroying phones, though the last two are actually still intact, they have only grown too old (camera has been bricked, samsung forced the output from png to jpeg in which you can easily see artifacts, xiaomi is making photos slightly worse every update, deliberately blurry)(end of rant)I'm used to swap cards, also for backups. But i'm not going to be able anymore. I plan then to do a weekly/monthly backup, but i would also like to have a daily backup in case anything happens.I'd like to avoid google drive because google has enough information already, also i have several folders there that had their content corrupted, and i've even read about google drive recompressing your photos. Both things have been reported by others as well, but i can't find sources at the moment.What other options do i have?

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 27, 2022, 06:30:42 am
content: Google Workspace or a paid Microsoft 365 licence.The paid services of both are about as secure as cloud platforms get and are completely different beasts to their free consumer counterparts. I personally use Google because so much about Microsoft's ecosystem shits me.

author: Karel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 27, 2022, 06:32:30 am
content: https://proton.me/drive/free

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 27, 2022, 07:19:59 am
content: Quote from: JPortici on October 27, 2022, 06:21:58 amAn encrypted offline HDD. For redundancy, two or more disks in a ZFS array. If you travel, keep a small SBC online for backups only, at home or in another safe location.Online services can be hacked, can sell your data, can steal your files, can be monitored/interrogated/censored by various authorities, can change their owner, can apply extra fees later, can be cut away from you by politicians, can go belly up, and so on.If you care about your backups then cobble your own solution.

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 27, 2022, 09:19:27 am
content: An encrypted service where only you have the key.

author: Karel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 27, 2022, 09:28:18 am
content: Quote from: tom66 on October 27, 2022, 09:19:27 amAll files on Proton Drive are protected with end-to-end encryption, regardless of whether you have a free or paid plan.End-to-end encryption means that nobody, not even us, can decrypt the files that you upload,guaranteeing the privacy of your files and documents.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 27, 2022, 12:32:26 pm
content: Run your own cloud using a home server.

author: Infraviolet
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 28, 2022, 12:31:14 am
content: The least evil cloud service is one you are NOT relying on. That means anything you use any cloud service for, you need a non-cloud way to do the same thing.For file backups, my usual advice would be pack the files in an encrypted archive file (no cloud service can then snoop on this), then back up to whichever, making sure that the cloud backup is only one of your multiple backups, not the only one.

author: eti
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 28, 2022, 12:43:17 am
content: Why not just ask a friend if you could "rent" a corner of their room/an unused room, and the same for another friend, and install a PC there, and pay them power/adsl costs for the PC with the "cloud" of your own making, on it? Same in your house, but you are adding 2 more (@ friends' houses) for redundancy. Of course the external PCs would be encrypted to the eyeballs!A brain dump, could work!

author: The Soulman
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 28, 2022, 01:07:30 am
content: Quote from: JPortici on October 27, 2022, 06:21:58 amHold on, I've been eyeballing a cheap android phone as my first "smart"-phone as a upgrade to my current "dumb"-phone, all these things you mention are the things I despise and utterly hate.So using my crappy nokia for calling someone, a dslr for taking pictures, and a W710 laptop for the rest is still the best option in 2022?The world must be coming to an end.QuoteIndeed.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 28, 2022, 01:30:49 am
content: There isn't any.

author: Infraviolet
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 28, 2022, 02:10:36 am
content: Post #9, I largely approve of your way of thinking. I have a dumb phone still, and a spare dumb phone kept in a cupboard and charged occasionally (battery health) for when the main dumbphone dies. I've got Linux Mint on all my PCs, feels a bit like the good old days when Windows was XP 9but works more reliably actually). The world certainly will come to an end if too many people and too much stuff get sucked in to "the cloud" and then one day "the cloud", or just a small section of it, crashes.

author: eti
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 28, 2022, 02:18:04 am
content: Quote from: Infraviolet on October 28, 2022, 02:10:36 amThe cloud “crashing” would be termed “precipitating” 😁

author: JPortici
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 29, 2022, 06:39:15 pm
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on October 28, 2022, 01:30:49 amThere must be a least evil on a scale from most evil to least evil.Again, it's not for a single source solution, it's for daily backups whereas weekly or (more realistic) monthly backups are going to be done offline, obviously.I'll look at proton, also at paid google workspace. Google is not going to care about my data if i actually pay for their services, right?right?

author: JPortici
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 29, 2022, 06:45:30 pm
content: Quote from: The Soulman on October 28, 2022, 01:07:30 amYes, and i don't expect things to be different. a smartphone is a compromize between many uses, you're going to sacrifice something. It pisses me off immensely that i'm going to sacrifice earbuds, but truth to be told, i don't go running with headphones anymore, for which USB C adapter would be a complete dealbraker (the day i use wireless earphones is the day wired ones disappear from the face of the planet. I survived the in-ear crap fest, i'll survive wireless) and these days i care more aboutgoodbetter photos and a better android experience as an app programmer.

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 29, 2022, 07:03:22 pm
content: Beware Google Pixel phones overheat on video calls, causing loss of connection or shutting down, if that is important to you.