Is Your Cloud Spying on You? The Privacy Settings to Change Now
Manage episode 506445650 series 3660640
In a world that syncs by default, your data rarely lives in one placeâitâs copied across apps, cloud providers, backups, and content networks, often crossing borders. That expands who could potentially see it: the service itself, infrastructure vendors, thirdâparty processors, and, with proper orders, law enforcement. Jurisdiction matters because laws like the U.S. CLOUD Act and EU GDPR shape access and obligations, so choose regionâlocked storage and review governmentârequest and dataâlocation policies. If content isnât endâtoâend encrypted (E2EE), assume the provider could read it despite âencrypted at restâ claims. Prefer E2EE for chats, files, and passwords to keep only you and intended recipients in the loop. Strengthen defaults to shrink exposure: enable passkeys or 2FA, set sharing to inviteâonly, disable autoâsync for sensitive folders, and use expiring links. Minimize what you upload, strip photo location data, and pick localâfirst or E2EE apps for personal items. At home, use a password manager, fullâdisk encryption, automatic updates, the 3â2â1 backup rule, quarterly permission reviews, and routine pruning of old cloud data and shared links. At work, separate identities, keep data in approved apps, enforce namedâperson sharing and leastâaccess by default, schedule deletion of stale files/recordings, and document region, owner, and retention. Privacy by default turns safer choices into the easy choicesâwithout giving up the convenience of sync.
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