Dropbox is testing AI tools—an experiment that involves OpenAI getting access to users' documents and files if you start futzing around with the AI tools. You can opt out by…

Edit 1 :

@AteshgaRubyTeeth@lemmy.world.

If you’re fed up with companies fucking you over there’s an alternative.

There software called Nextcloud which you can run on a server which works in comparable ways as Onedrive/Google Drive/Dropbox/etc. works.

You could host it yourself on a server if you know how.

If you’re not familiar with forwarding ports or setting static IP adresses you can rent some server space from Hetzner where Nextcloud is included.

Edit 2 :

@TheFederatedPipe@kbin.social

I’m totally in favor with your post, but not everyone is willing to self-host or is capable of doing it. So I recommendation would be and one that I’m currently using, is when uploading a file to these cloud services encrypt your files. I’m using #cryptomator, but I’m sure there are other alternatives, like #rclone. There is also #veracrypt, but to my understanding, is not great for cloud sync.

Cryptomator official website Quick youtube video in how to use cryptomator (3:51)

Cryptomator is open source and free, but only on desktop. To use the mobile version, you will have to pay. Here is a list of alternatives to cryptomator, if you are familiar with one, please share your knowledge.

Edit 3 :

@danileonis@lemmy.ml

Don’t forget Syncthing, I always suggest it first since it doesn’t require a server or advanced knowledge to work.

    • TGhost [She/Her]@lemmy.mlOP
      0·
      7 months ago

      not bad too, i will not edit the body with that because i think it can be against the ToS of Google, and if not and that’s become a popular solution, that will be for sure in it then.

      You can loose your account so easily with them, so its better to be “reliable” ^^

  • davel [he/him]@lemmy.mlEnglish
    0·
    7 months ago

    DropBox has been dead to me since 2014 when they put former US Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice on their board of directors.

  • Sabre363@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    0·
    7 months ago

    The only real way to opt out of this shit is to start using a better cloud and nuke Dropbox from every computer you own

    • labsin@sh.itjust.works
      0·
      7 months ago

      There is pCloud which is based in Switzerland which has mostly the same regulation as the EU. They specifically state that they won’t use your data for commercial purposes. Until the company merges or gets bought I guess.

      Ofc if it’s not end-to-end encrypted and all open source and self hosted, you can’t really be sure.

      • skulblaka@kbin.social
        0·
        7 months ago

        They specifically state that they won’t use your data for commercial purposes. Until the company merges or gets bought I guess.

        Which you won’t hear about until after all the existing data has been scraped off the servers. The company, if bought, will be bought for the value of their data stores and whatever corporation purchases them will specifically want to keep the news quiet until after they’ve gotten their value out of the data store. Therefore this is a non-starter as you may as well just hand the info to Dropbox today.

    • jabjoe@feddit.ukEnglish
      0·
      7 months ago

      If it’s not open source and self hosted, I think it will probably turn out just the same as Dropbox. It’s the power dynamic. Closed SaaS, on someone else’s computers, is a very weak position. Not surprising when the relationship turns abusive.

      • monsieur_jean@kbin.social
        0·
        7 months ago

        Users are responsible for their own privacy.

        Having Open Source projects providing the tools for that is extremely important. But ultimately the responsibility lies in the users hands. End to End encryption is the way. My files should 100% be encrypted on my side, with private keys that I own and nobody else. :)

        • TGhost [She/Her]@lemmy.mlOP
          0·
          7 months ago

          Not everyone can do it.
          I agree, but in this society even with that in considerations, corpo have responsabilities and duty…

          Don’t misunderstand me, I’m on your technical philosophy. For my self, I trust my self. But society is manipulated with promises, and theses broken promises we have to talk about them, and outloud.

      • 4am@lemm.ee
        0·
        7 months ago

        I think the implication is that if your house burns down, your important shit is backed up elsewhere

      • southsamurai@sh.itjust.works
        0·
        7 months ago

        Which is great, but still does nothing for off-site storage.

        You always have at least one off site backup of anything important. For most people, that’s going to be some kind of cloud service. What you use to access that can vary a good bit (as someone reminded me, nextcloud services you can use rather than have it all be on site exist), but syncthing would require that you have someone else willing to have a device at their house, always connected, for it to be a viable pick this that aspect.

        Don’t get me wrong, syncthing is awesome, but it isn’t a total solution by itself. Hell, my redundant off site backup is less hassle, tbh. I just swap out external drives when I visit my best friend. I take the most updated one, leave it and bring home the previous one from his place. It’s always a little behind, but it isn’t reliant on connectivity lol.

        That’s what I was getting at. If all of your backups are at the same place, physically, you don’t actually have backups, you just have redundant copies. A backup that can be destroyed at the same time as other backups or the original isn’t really a backup at all. It’s good enough for a drive dying, but not for bigger events.

        That’s what I was getting at, I just forgot that nexcloud services exist.

        • Danileonis @lemmy.ml
          0·
          7 months ago

          Your smartphone is already an always connected device, and you can manually do periodical backups on external drives which is a good practice in any case.

          You can also set which device rules the file modification (sent or receive only as a folder).

          I think it’s ok for most of the people. If you have a tons of precious files to save I can agree with you, but I think this type of “off-grid self-hosting” is just the future of personal data management.

  • Danileonis @lemmy.ml
    0·
    7 months ago

    Don’t forget Syncthing, I always suggest it first since it doesn’t require a server or advanced knowledge to work.

    • TGhost [She/Her]@lemmy.mlOP
      0·
      7 months ago

      i think its a scenario well accepted within the terms of uses…

      Recently those of OpenAi changed btw, and that’s very interesting… to read.
      They sent the mail the night of Christmas if i’m not wrong lmaooooo

      If laws were made for citizens, we would know for now 😆

  • TheFederatedPipe@kbin.social
    0·
    7 months ago

    I’m totally in favor with your post, but not everyone is willing to self-host or is capable of doing it. So I recommendation would be and one that I’m currently using, is when uploading a file to these cloud services encrypt your files. I’m using #cryptomator, but I’m sure there are other alternatives, like #rclone. There is also #veracrypt, but to my understanding, is not great for cloud sync.

    Cryptomator official website
    Quick youtube video in how to use cryptomator (3:51)

    Cryptomator is open source and free, but only on desktop. To use the mobile version, you will have to pay. Here is a list of alternatives to cryptomator, if you are familiar with one, please share your knowledge.

    • s3rvant@kbin.social
      0·
      7 months ago

      Yep, I have a decently large free dropbox account and just use Cryptomator to continue using it