[Lex Computer & Tech Group/LCTG] one drive -- Interesting

Sun Nov 2 22:03:45 PST 2025

    On Sunday, November 2, 2025 at 01:11:58 PM EST, Drew King via LCTG <lctg at lists.toku.us> wrote:  
 Drew,
What you say would be great for your own, locally generated content.
But Outlook.com doesn't have a local option, and Microsoft/Office 365 is entirely in the Cloud. You don't start with local documents, etc. So your data are never encrypted to begin with. Microsoft (or any other Cloud App provider) is free to do whatever they want when the app is in the Cloud and makes its first save/autosave to the same Cloud environment.
You truly have no choice in such a situation. You can use a VPN to get to your Cloud computing environment, but once you're logged in, nothing is encrypted where it is created. "Local Save" means only that a copy is downloaded after the fact. The programs/services are all in the Cloud. 
Right now, there are very limited local options, but those are disappearing from Windows and Mac. The only alternative is to forego all Microsoft and Apple branded and Store applications, and use only freeware or locally installed, licensed software. So far those are still options, though companies like Intuit (Quick Books) and Adobe (Photoshop) have moved to entirely Cloud App subscription services. 
This is becoming the norm/default for more and more "Software/App/OS as a Service" products/subscriptions.
Rumors have it that Windows 12 will be so Cloud-centric that by default the only thing you'll be doing which originates locally is logging into your device (with a Microsoft Cloud Account). Even for Pro users. The desktop will be Cloud-only. And Copilot AI will be everywhere, so you can't avoid all your inputs being seen and manipulated by Microsoft. Microsoft is far from alone in these trends. 
Microsoft as of Windows 11 25H2 has made it much more difficult to even set up a local Administrator Account.
And don't get the idea that Apple is going any different direction. 
Another piece of fallout from these changes: Backing up your system and programs will no longer matter. You can't refuse an update to a program in the Cloud whose interface you used to like but now can't stand due to recent changes. And you can't restore the apps or your Cloud desktop to a previous condition or settings. You can download and store local copies of your data. Which is useless if the Cloud App goes away or changes its formats so your old files won't work in the app anymore. If you stop paying for the services, or if the services go away, your data may become useless. (Maybe we need to go back to paper printouts and screenshots/video captures?) 
Backup as we've known it, even for businesses, is going away. 
-- Bob Primak 

All,

Regarding encryption, I suggest looking into https://cryptomator.org/

I'm also a VPN advocate. My connections to the Internet are ALWAYS encrypted.

My new router supports device level encryption using my Nordvpn.com account. Although I still run Nordvpn on my PC's, I can, and do let it encrypt each of my virtual machines.

https://windscribe.com/ is a very good VPN with a FREE option. You get 10GB of transfer data per month!

Black Friday sales are coming, so browse the options. Nordvpn also protects you from malware, and ads. All your downloads, and web content are scanned BEFORE they get to your browser! All referrals get 3 extra months free.

They support Windows, Mac, and Linux for free. Mobile apps have a fee.

I don't encrypt EVERYTHING, but anything I don't want cloud providers reading, absolutely!

Cryptomator revolves around "Vaults". Vaults are folders with files in them. You can, on Windows, mount the vault as a drive letter, and everywhere you can mount as a folder.

We can do a potpourri on  Cryptomator/encryption if there is interest? Rclone, which I also use, handles encryption.

All the cloud providers scan your files in detail. I  was caught off guard by Pcloud a few years ago.  Pcloud is my backup cloud drive for Google and Microsoft.  The first time I copied my data from Google to pcloud I got locked out of my pcloud account shortly afterwards and after contacting technical support I learned that it was because of a violation of their terms of service!  I had a single PDF file on my Google Drive that was a news article referencing the war in Iraq and it specifically mentioned ISIS.   It was the content of this PDF file that Google was perfectly fine with that caused the violation.  I asked pCloud to delete anything they felt was in violation of their policy in exchange for letting me back into my account, and they agreed.  Afterward I learned that it was this single file that was the root of the problem. Pcloud, and all others,  scan all of your documents in detail. Basically reading through them word by word and using technology to discover what the content is and what it references.

Now that we have all of this AI technology, it is certain that they know about everything that you write and store in the cloud. 

Don't put anything in the cloud unencrypted that you don't want your cloud provider to read in detail!

These are the cloud providers they support on mobile. Any cloud on your PC works.

 On 11/2/2025 11:09 AM, Robert Primak via LCTG wrote:

 Well, it's at least as private as Amazon's Alexa from their home assistant series of IoT devices.  
  Google's drive and email services and Yahoo's email services do exactly the same thing. 

  If you want it to be private, encrypt it before uploading it.  
  Oh wait, Microsoft has a Cloud-first save default. Sorry, my bad. You can't encrypt these automatic OneDrive saves.  (This applies especially to Office 365 and Outlook.com.)  
  So how's Apple's privacy in iCloud looking these days?  
  Since these services all include subscription upgrades, I see no argument that for a free service, you are the product. These services are free as in free beer. Once you really start using them, you have to pay for more storage or subscribe to a paid product or service.  
  -- Bob Primak  

     On Saturday, November 1, 2025 at 01:27:06 PM EDT, John Rudy via LCTG <lctg at lists.toku.us> wrote:  

This is like “AI searches are private and not remembered”.  Well, maybe

If you do a search on bomb making expect to get an FBI visit

John Rudy

781-861-0402

781-718-8334  cell

13 Hawthorne Lane

Bedford MA

jjrudy1 at comcast.net

From: Rich Moffitt <rich at richmoffitt.org> 
 Sent: Saturday, November 1, 2025 11:15 AM
 To: john rudy <jjrudy1 at comcast.net>
 Cc: Lex Computer Group <lctg at lists.toku.us>
 Subject: Re: [Lex Computer & Tech Group/LCTG] one drive -- Interesting

Hi, John. What you're seeing isn't sharing with other people (not even Microsoft employees, through a combination of encryption, access controls, and pinky swears). Microsoft would probably tell you that what you saw is still considered "private to you." Instead, it's software services built into the platform reading the files that you uploaded to them to deliver the memories feature.

On Sat, Nov 1, 2025, 10:05 AM John Rudy via LCTG <lctg at lists.toku.us> wrote:

I have just started getting messages from onedrive (OneDrive photos at onedrive.com) containing a small group of photos and the message

I thought my onedrive account was private to me.  Apparently not.

When I click on “View all memories” I am asked to log in to Microsoft.

I went to gemini.ai and asked about onedrive privacy.  Here is a portion of what it responded:

Managing your OneDrive photos' privacy involves controlling sharing permissions and using specific privacy features. Here are the main ways to do so: 

1. Control Sharing Permissions

The most direct way to manage privacy is by controlling who has access to your files and folders. 

   - Sharing Individual Photos/Folders:

   - Right-click on the photo or folder you want to manage.
   - Select Share or Manage access [1].
   - In the sharing dialogue, you can:

   - See who currently has access [1].

   - Stop sharing entirely.

   - Change permissions from "can edit" to "can view" (read-only).

   - Remove specific users [1].

   - Set an expiration date for the shared link [1].

   - Set a password for the link (with a Microsoft 365 subscription) [1].

John Rudy

781-861-0402

781-718-8334  cell

13 Hawthorne Lane

Bedford MA

jjrudy1 at comcast.net

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 Drew King 

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