Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Dropbox Can't See Your Dat– Er, Never Mind

Posted by timothy on from the get-marketing-legal-and-the-engineers-in-here dept.

bizwriter writes "Dropbox, the online backup and file sharing service claims to have hit 25 million users in a single year. But a change in terms, noting that Dropbox will give up data to law enforcement under a legal request, showed that the company's security claims couldn't be possible. It turns out that Dropbox claims in one place that encrypted data makes it impossible for employees to see into user files, but in another says that they're only 'prohibited' from doing so."

5 of 333 comments (clear)

  1. the love of cloud by alphatel · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Everyday I get a corporate client asking me why they can't just do all their work on the cloud. Here's the perfect reason why.

    --
    When the foot seeks the place of the head, the line is crossed. Know your place. Keep your place. Be a shoe.
    1. Re:the love of cloud by gkuz · · Score: 4, Insightful

      So that law enforcement can't access his data? What is his "business" area to be exact?

      I love the irony of this comment being posted by an AC. Tell you what, post using your real name, address and phone number, and I'll tell you a dozen reasons why privacy, even from law enforcement, can be a legitimate business need.

    2. Re:the love of cloud by MoeDumb · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That's the ticket. YOU do your own encryption before sending it up to the cloud. Then it doesn't matter what DB does.

      --
      Mod Me Up. You'll make a grown man cry.
    3. Re:the love of cloud by Rob+the+Bold · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Well it's not a perfect reason. Many companies traditionally send their backup tapes or their shred bins or boxes of old files to an operator like Iron Mountain to store / destroy them. I expect Iron Mountain would comply with a court order just as readily as a cloud operator. I suppose with cloud operators the jurisdictions are more likely to differ which could be considered an advantage or not depending on why the court order is being served.

      I noticed that although you write "court order" here -- and probably a lot of us are making the same assumption -- that phrase is not used in the Dropbox terms quoted in TFA. Instead, it reads "...Dropbox cooperates with United States law enforcement when it receives valid legal process..." It certainly makes you consider that Dropbox -- like other service providers with access to you data -- would give up your files just for a request from the cops, the FBI, etc. without even the limited due process of an actual court order.

      --
      I am not a crackpot.
  2. The cloud is never secure ... by Blade · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Maybe it comes from working in IT, but I always assume that if someone else is holding my data, they can access it. It doesn't interest me what they say - that's my basic starting assumption. So I always assumed that Dropbox could get to my data, and if I cared about the privacy of that data I just encrypted the files myself first.

    It's my data, I'm in control of it. Giving it up to someone else and hoping they keep it safe is silly.

    I'm surprised so many people are surprised (and I wonder if the people are are surprised haven't been in IT long?)