User:ThomasW/Notes Why should we trust Google Drive, or any cloud storage service

Van Camp , Jeffrey (2011) "Why should we trust Google Drive, or any cloud storage service? [Online] Available: http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-can-we-trust-google-drive-or-any-cloud-storage-service/ (24.11.2015)

Our own Andrew Couts dug into this issue a few months back and discovered that nearly all major cloud storage services refuse to guarantee the safety of any data uploaded to their servers. Dropbox, Box, RapidShare, Google Drive, Amazon Cloud Drive, Microsoft SkyDrive… not one of them will guarantee the safety of your data.

Here’s an excerpt from Microsoft’s particularly blunt SkyDrive terms of service:

You’re responsible for backing up the data that you store on the service. If your service is suspended or canceled, we may permanently delete your data from our servers. We have no obligation to return data to you after the service is suspended or canceled. If data is stored with an expiration date, we may also delete the data as of that date. Data that is deleted may be irretrievable.

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TorrentFreak leaked a supposed internal manifesto for cloud hosting service RapidShare shows that it may terminate user accounts just on the suspicion that they might be breaking someone’s copyright.

“Services should terminate account holders or subscribers not merelyupon proof that they are infringers but when sufficient copyright holders have calledtheir conduct into question. In such cases, services deserve an explanation from the users as to why the suspicions are unfounded.”

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