this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2023
501 points (97.9% liked)

Privacy

32173 readers
608 users here now

A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

Some Rules

Related communities

much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Edit 1 :

@[email protected].

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 :

@[email protected]

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 :

@[email protected]

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

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] AteshgaRubyTeeth 66 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (8 children)

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.

[–] KpntAutismus 24 points 1 year ago (2 children)

i've recently figured out how dynamic DNSs work, i am unstoppable.

now i just need to figure out how to encrypt traffic...

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago

LetsEncrypt offers free SSL certificates, if you're familiar with reverse proxies then it's not too difficult to implement. I have mine set up to automatically renew my wildcard cert, then send a special signal to the nginx docker container for it to reload the SSL certs

A more onedrive/google drive-like alternative to Nextcloud would be Syncthing, which is E2EE and doesn't need additional config of SSL certs and the like

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

With Nextcloud, when you, install maps, the location logging app, uploads your photos, you can see your life laid out over a time access. It's scary it you normally give all that to say Google or Apple.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] rockSlayer 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Do you know if nextcloud is foss? Do you know any that are?

[–] rtxn 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes, it's licensed under GNU AGPL 3.0.

[–] rockSlayer 3 points 1 year ago

Perfect, looks like I have a small project to get started on!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

They're a FOSS fork of ownCloud.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Any chance you could explain the basics of how the Hetzner thing would work? I'm noob

[–] AteshgaRubyTeeth 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

You go to this website from Hetzner:

https://www.hetzner.com/storage/storage-share

You sign up for one of the plans, cheapest is 5.11 EUR a month. You’ll get 1 TB of storage for this.

Storage Share is essentially some space on a server from Hetzner where the Nextcloud software is already running.

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (4 replies)
[–] [email protected] 41 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Missing option that I use:

Free Google Drive mounted with rclone and then eCryptfs filesystem mounted on the Google Drive mountpoint.

I get the free space and Google only sees encrypted files.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I love you so much right now

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year 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 then.

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

[–] zephyr 34 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Yet another reminder that the cloud is just a fancy name for someone else's computer.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Same, it's kind of a symbolic gesture since I apparently haven't used DB since 2018, but still, I cited them sharing files with AI companies as the reason.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Even less shocking, this can’t be disabled in mobile browsers.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

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

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I do not see that option under the Dropbox settings.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They are not testing this for every account. But you should check your settings every so often.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Or better yet just stop using dropbox.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago

We need to move away from proprietary "cloud" solutions.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (3 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year 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.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

If you have to use cloud storage, encrypt the files before you upload them

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Body of the post edited :),
Thanks for your input,

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There's always Cryptomator too. VeraCrypt also works and syncs quickly.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

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

[–] topinambour_rex 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Time to fill dropbox with gos of eroticas.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Finally, someone will read John/John, my series of erotic John Oliver / Elton John fanfictions.

[–] victorz 5 points 1 year ago

"Third-party AI services are only used when customers actively engage with Dropbox AI features which themselves are clearly labeled,"

Should be fine since I never ever use DB then.

[–] lolrightythen 5 points 1 year ago

Awesome photo choice!

"What's in the box?"

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I never opted in, no DropBox, OneDrive nor GDrive.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The problem with cryptomater in my mind is eventually with quantum computing the encryption will be cracked. Even if you delete the file its stored somwhere else in their backups. There will be a treasure of good information even if its 10 yearas from now to be harvested.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Why not just encrypt your data before uploading to the cloud?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (3 children)

why return the problem on the user ?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Because if not this it will always be something else.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›