FTC Worries About Consumers, Cloud Data, and Privacy

pcause writes "Ars Techina has a nice article about the FTC's concern that consumers don't understand the implications of storing their data in the cloud. From the article: 'Data is now sitting on servers outside of your control, where it can be accessed far more easily by Google itself, hackers, and law enforcement than it ever could if kept within the device. Once data passes over the network, it gets much easier to access in realtime; once it is stored on a remote server, it gets much easier to access at any time. And those are just the phone settings. Google also has access to search history data, anything stored in Google Docs or Spreadsheets, complete schedules stored in Google Calendar, and recent Maps searches. Combine them all, and companies like Google become one-stop shops for authorities looking for personal information.' Do you think the average consumer even has a clue about this issue?"

Comments

Re:use encryption

[QuantumG]

Mike, why are you being a dick?

Silence and "I don't recall" are not the same.. not even slightly.. not only that, the guy had refused to answer other questions already.

If the police come to you and want to ask some questions, ask for your lawyer.. if they suggest you hand over some encryption keys, immediately ask "to what?" and when they point out your encrypted drive/files immediately say "oh, I have no idea, that was a long time ago". If they seek a warrant to force you to produce the keys you simply have to stick to your story. They can't prove otherwise, so you'll be fine.