# The best reason to not use the cloud?



## Valvebounce (Oct 29, 2019)

Hi Folks.
Is this the best reason ever not to rely on “cloud” storage?

From Canon:-
IT'S TIME TO SAY FAREWELL TO IRISTA
Sadly, we’ve decided to close down Irista. We would like to thank you for using it over the years; we hope that you’ve enjoyed the service.
Your account will remain unaffected until 31 January 2020, when it will close.
*On this date, your details and data will be deleted.*

Always bear in mind, there is no cloud, just someone else’s computer which they can turn off at any time!

I have pictures on Flickr (the cloud?) but the originals are still duplicated locally with a remote third copy! 

Cheers, Graham.


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## YuengLinger (Oct 29, 2019)

Developing the habit of backing up at home, while having a safe place to keep an extra copy of critical data offsite, is what has kept my data safe for two decades. 

Your example, Graham, is sobering. But what I worry about more is finding that a cloud company's servers have been hacked, that data has been stolen, badly corrupted, or irretrievably lost. On the other hand, we trust credit card companies and banks with our data (because what is money these days, other than data in the clouds?).

But really, having a good home-safe, a plan one sticks to, and a place to keep an extra set of those King Harry wedding shots works great.

On yet the other hand, how many of us DO stick to backup plans?


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## AlanF (Oct 29, 2019)

Irista’s closing down is backed up already on 3 CR threads.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Oct 30, 2019)

backups to the cloud are just that, backups. If a site goes down, you can backup to another. If you are using it for primary storage, then you should have backups elsewhere. In any event, if one is lost, the other can generate a replacement.

I don't use the cloud because my upload speed is far too slow. There is nothing I can do about that, I'm rural and lucky to get service at all.


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## AlanF (Oct 30, 2019)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> backups to the cloud are just that, backups. If a site goes down, you can backup to another. If you are using it for primary storage, then you should have backups elsewhere. In any event, if one is lost, the other can generate a replacement.
> 
> I don't use the cloud because my upload speed is far too slow. There is nothing I can do about that, I'm rural and lucky to get service at all.


Precisely. All my work is backed up on a commercial cloud server automatically as it is done, and the server immediately syncs with my home and office desktops as well as two laptops.


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## Maximilian (Oct 30, 2019)

YuengLinger said:


> Developing the habit of backing up at home, while having a safe place to keep an extra copy of critical data offsite, is what has kept my data safe for two decades.


That!


> … what I worry about more is finding that a cloud company's servers have been hacked...


And that!


> On yet the other hand, how many of us DO stick to backup plans?


Me!


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## Kit. (Oct 30, 2019)

YuengLinger said:


> On the other hand, we trust credit card companies and banks with our data (because what is money these days, other than data in the clouds?).


"There is no bank, just someone else’s purse"


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## AlanF (Oct 30, 2019)

When


Valvebounce said:


> ...
> Always bear in mind, there is no cloud, just someone else’s computer which they can turn off at any time!..



What's more worrying is that as Canon can turn off Irista just like that, it is a sign that they can turn off anything else at their fancy, and we are having to trust them. Sony has a bad reputation for dumping projects and it's not good for Canon to join the club.


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## LDS (Oct 30, 2019)

AlanF said:


> it is a sign that they can turn off anything else at their fancy,



That's why I don't like any camera that is too reliant on proprietary external services or apps - they could be retired any time.


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## YuengLinger (Oct 30, 2019)

AlanF said:


> When
> 
> 
> What's more worrying is that as Canon can turn off Irista just like that, it is a sign that they can turn off anything else at their fancy, and we are having to trust them. Sony has a bad reputation for dumping projects and it's not good for Canon to join the club.



I think the biggest bummer, short of, may it never happen, Canon just spinning off photography, would be for CPS to be "turned off." Just such great peace of mind to know higher end items can get fixed fast and properly. CPS make such a difference, but Canon seems hardly to market it...I only heard it about through word of mouth, but that was before joining CR, where it is mentioned often enough.


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## YuengLinger (Nov 22, 2019)

All you happy-go-lucky types. Put this in your pipe and smoke it!









1.2 Billion Records Found Exposed Online in a Single Server


Here's the next jumbo data leak, complete with Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn profiles.




www.wired.com


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## Kit. (Nov 22, 2019)

YuengLinger said:


> All you happy-go-lucky types. Put this in your pipe and smoke it!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It's almost as if one has found printed Yellow Pages. I don't see what it has to do with the topic.


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## privatebydesign (Nov 22, 2019)

YuengLinger said:


> All you happy-go-lucky types. Put this in your pipe and smoke it!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I'm sorry I don't see the connection between aggregated public data, stuff everybody happily puts out for people to see, and any kind of security risk.


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## YuengLinger (Nov 22, 2019)

Kit. said:


> It's almost as if one has found printed Yellow Pages. I don't see what it has to do with the topic.


 
Sigh...


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## Don Haines (Nov 23, 2019)

YuengLinger said:


> Sigh...


If they don’t get the point, then they either don’t know or don’t care.

the cloud is more convenient, but to get that convenience you also get:

if your provider disappears, so do your photos.

they might be securely stored, but they might not be.

you may be giving away rights.

they are accessible to lots of people and (depending on where the server is located) government agencies


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## privatebydesign (Nov 23, 2019)

Don Haines said:


> If they don’t get the point, then they either don’t know or don’t care.
> 
> the cloud is more convenient, but to get that convenience you also get:
> 
> ...


I get that Don, I also get that anything I say or do in a public forum will stay there long after I do. 

But I don't see what that latest post has to do with either the OP about an image cloud storage server ending, the inevitable conflation of all storage security issues and concerns (real and imagined) and a server of aggregated publicly available information being 'hacked', which in this instance wouldn't be hacked at all it was never password protected so would just be accessed! It never stored sensitive data that wasn't freely available online, it didn't have any passwords, CC numbers or anything else of nefarious interest.

What is the connection? Forgive the pun!


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## Don Haines (Nov 23, 2019)

privatebydesign said:


> I get that Don, I also get that anything I say or do in a public forum will stay there long after I do.
> 
> But I don't see what that latest post has to do with either the OP about an image cloud storage server ending, the inevitable conflation of all storage security issues and concerns (real and imagined) and a server of aggregated publicly available information being 'hacked', which in this instance wouldn't be hacked at all it was never password protected so would just be accessed! It never stored sensitive data that wasn't freely available online, it didn't have any passwords, CC numbers or anything else of nefarious interest.
> 
> What is the connection? Forgive the pun!


The point I was trying to make was that when you put stuff “out on the cloud” is that it is beyond your control. We should not expect guarantees of security or longevity. 

of course, there is also the option of running your own cloud server......


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## Del Paso (Nov 23, 2019)

Maximilian said:


> That!
> 
> And that!
> 
> Me!


Me too!!!


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## privatebydesign (Nov 23, 2019)

Don Haines said:


> The point I was trying to make was that when you put stuff “out on the cloud” is that it is beyond your control. We should not expect guarantees of security or longevity.
> 
> of course, there is also the option of running your own cloud server......


Oh I 100% agree with that, and I do both using commercial servers and my own for different needs, though I am under no illusion that however well I think I might be protecting my personal 'cloud' server, I know anybody with the inclination and a few YouTube videos could actually hack it.

I think what I was trying to get at was there is this huge conflation of 'hacking' confidential data that should be well protected by the likes of banks, CC companies etc, and the vagaries of commercial cloud servers that we have accounts with, free or paid, that offer completely different services.


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## Kit. (Nov 23, 2019)

Don Haines said:


> If they don’t get the point, then they either don’t know or don’t care.
> 
> the cloud is more convenient, but to get that convenience you also get:
> 
> ...


So, if you find your name and your home address in the white pages section of your local Yellow Pages, you will blame your photo cloud storage for that?


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## Don Haines (Nov 23, 2019)

privatebydesign said:


> Oh I 100% agree with that, and I do both using commercial servers and my own for different needs, though I am under no illusion that however well I think I might be protecting my personal 'cloud' server, I know anybody with the inclination and a few YouTube videos could actually hack it.
> 
> I think what I was trying to get at was there is this huge conflation of 'hacking' confidential data that should be well protected by the likes of banks, CC companies etc, and the vagaries of commercial cloud servers that we have accounts with, free or paid, that offer completely different services.


yes.

and I agree with your comments about security. My work photos are all located on a work server that would be very hard to get to. My personal photos, despite my personal feelings about many of them, have no commercial value and no blackmail value. They are backed up off line (twice) and if someone hacked into them they would end up with a bazillion cat and bird pictures that would only cause them to wonder why someone would take ten thousand pictures of a chickadee.

Edit: and sadly enough, I was taking pictures of chickadees this afternoon.....


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## Don Haines (Nov 23, 2019)

Kit. said:


> So, if you find your name and your home address in the white pages section of your local Yellow Pages, you will blame your photo cloud storage for that?


No, I blame the cat


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## Antono Refa (Nov 23, 2019)

Short answer: no.

Long answer: every type of backup is prone to some type of failure, which is why one should have at least two backups, one of them off-site.

I backup all my photos to BD-R & a cloud service. If the cloud service closes tomorrow morning, I'll subscribe to a different one. Will take a few days to have everything uploaded to it, but I'll live with the risk of my apartment burning down just as that happens.


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## YuengLinger (Nov 24, 2019)

One disgruntled employee, from summer of this year. The faithful aren't just backing up photos, but their whole freakin' systems.









Capital One says it was hit with data breach, affecting tens of millions of credit card applications


Capital One says the breach it affected an estimated 100 million US individuals and approximately 6 million in Canada.




www.businessinsider.com


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