-

Tumblr post by maerossi. screenshot - "Google Sheets We're sorry. You can’t access this item because it is in violation of our Terms of Service." Everyone: Please please please don't write your books in Google Docs. Frankly don't use Google <br />Drive for personal stuff. Their terms of service say they take down stuff like content related to terrorism and trafficking, but this Google Sheet was literally a list of movies I'd watched this year and books I'd read. 23 Jul Holy smokes, guys. It's way <br />worse than | thought. Google actually took away access to every single file of fiction writing I'd made on that account. BUT | backed it all up on Scrivener yesterday by coincidence. So | haven't lost my work, but I could have just lost the 12,000 words <br />I've written this month after a year of really intense writer's block. I honestly don't know what that would have done to my psyche. Please be careful out there, folks! <3

2025-07-28 15:35:43

pheonix@fosstodon.org

Don't trust cloud services with your creative work.

#enshittification #privacy #infosec #security #cybersecurity #writing #art

2025-07-28 15:47:18

Disisdeguey🔻PalestineAction🇵🇸

disisdeguey@expressional.social

@pheonix STOP using Google. #googlesux

2025-07-28 15:50:06

Giles Goat

gilesgoat@toot.wales

@pheonix Well "it should not take a genius" to understand "don't trust ( too much ) clouds for anything". Why would you put ALL your trust into something that belongs to someone else that can dictate the rules and it's out of your control ? Yes clouds can be practical - up to a point - to share stuff but "security" ? Invest $80 or so in a 2Tbytes USB HD and you can shove in documents/writings "for the rest of your life" ! Why would you ever entrust ALL your life into something like "Clouds" ?

2025-07-28 15:55:47

mkj

mkj@social.mkj.earth

Certainly not the first time Google has elected to remove someone's access to that person's own data!

And it's not like there are contact details easily available for how to get in touch with a human being to sort that out, or even just, you know, *get a friggin' archive that you can restore to some other service* or even locally on your own computer and keep working.

Basically, when this happens you're toast.

Own your data!

Absolute minimum: HAVE GOOD BACKUPS.

@pheonix

#WritingCommunity

2025-07-28 16:26:29

Richard W. Woodley ELBOWS UP 🇨🇦🌹🚴‍♂️📷 🗺️

the5thColumnist@mstdn.ca

@pheonix

I understand people using the so-called cloud for back-ups or sharing content but if someone creates something what would possess them to have the only copies on servers they do not control. Anything I create is stored on my hard drive and backed up to my own external drive.

2025-07-28 16:39:17

zetabeta

zetabeta@mastodon.social

@pheonix
is this the time i ask rhetorically.

do you have google account in your pocket 24/7 ! or apple id ! or microsoft account !

2025-07-28 16:42:28

Yora

yora@mastodon.gamedev.place

@pheonix Never do any business with Google.
They will fuck you over for completely random bullshit at the drop of a hat.

2025-07-28 16:58:14

Jackie 🍉🏳️‍⚧️☭

burnoutqueen@todon.nl

@pheonix use libre office.

Don't use #ZionistMicrosoft

2025-07-28 17:02:02

lemgandi

lemgandi@mastodon.social

@pheonix Shikes!

My website is on aws. I wonder how risky that is. At least I am paying Amazon to host it.

2025-07-28 17:05:41

HowToPhil (Phillip R)

howtophil@mastodon.social

@pheonix IF you use "cloud services," they should be SECONDARY locations of your files. Not primary and not ever only.

2025-07-28 17:22:58

Alexander Dyas

alexanderdyas@mindly.social

@pheonix Were these users paying for their Google services?

2025-07-28 17:26:33

🇺🇸 🇺🇦 🇮🇱 🐧 🥦

Methylcobalamin@mastodon.social

@pheonix I take a lot of notes in Google Docs. I have it in my calendar to download and back up that directory once a month.

2025-07-28 17:50:59

George Saich

geos@toot.community

@pheonix You had me at, "Don't use Google."

2025-07-28 17:58:05

Lord Caramac the Clueless, KSC

LordCaramac@discordian.social

@pheonix I know why I keep everything I make on my own local hard drives. Currently I'm not using any cloud storage whatsoever, and I have only ever used cloud storage for external backup copies in addition to my local ones.

2025-07-28 18:00:23

Critical Silence

CriticalSilence@social.tchncs.de

Cloud is a contract. In most cases, you grant full access to your data, they say for "security reasons", like virus or malware prevention. Sometimes they reserve even rights on your work.
Cloud should never an option, it always contains two legal parties, it's not just you and some disk space.
And the best from economic POV: you are getting dependent. This is most fun, if companies increase prices for things you never built up an alternative for.
@pheonix

2025-07-28 18:03:49

𝗣𝗠𝗝 ⚫

pmj@social.pmj.rocks

@pheonix

don't trust cloud services - period!

2025-07-28 18:09:18

Ken '|<3ns41' 🌻 🫰🏻

K3n_5s@infosec.exchange

@pheonix My advice: Save locally, and backup to multiple cloud storage providers. Google Drive, OneDrive, etc.

2025-07-28 18:10:12

Belakor

nurglerider@mastodon.social

@pheonix Don't trust cloud services

Fixed that for you.

2025-07-28 18:27:21

DeadlyEssence - IndieDev

DeadlyEssence01@mastodon.gamedev.place

@pheonix honestly, this is just another reminder I should finish my rating app. Since the whole point is to have a database of all your reviews nicely organized and most importantly, Stored On Your Own Device. Because yeah, cloud services suck.

2025-07-28 18:31:30

E.R. Flynn - Illustrator

ERFlynnArt@mastodon.social

@pheonix Yep. I pulled all my important docs, photos, etc. from Google Drive. They spy on it and also train their damn AI on it.

2025-07-28 18:52:35

ColesStreetPothole

ColesStreetPothole@weatherishappening.network

@pheonix Seems like you could make that sentence shorter.

Don't trust cloud services.

2025-07-28 19:14:36

DigiLauch

franz_e@libori.social

@pheonix And people count "uploading to The Cloud™" as a backup...

2025-07-28 19:15:10

nounoursfaisdeschoses

nounoursfaisdeschoses@mastodon.social

@pheonix the cloud is a lie

2025-07-28 19:18:34

Arbres

arbres@mastodon.social

@pheonix Duh.
Always have a hard copy.

2025-07-28 19:24:09

Janie Karma S 🏳️‍🌈🖖🏿

Karma_J@mastodon.social

@pheonix

Yet ANOTHER reason why I never save anything online. All my work and files are saved offline on multiple backups.

2025-07-28 19:45:20

Graeme 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

pa27@mastodon.social

@pheonix Yup - store local, only use cloud for backup, and even then, not google, apple or the like...

2025-07-28 19:46:19

Aloniaxx

Judeet99@mastodon.world

@pheonix Nor any assignments for your studies. We were told a LONG time ago to back up everything we did onto a usb drive at the very least, and I've stuck with that ever since and never lost anything.

2025-07-28 19:58:12

Rémi Cardona

remi@urbanists.social

@pheonix this one is for you guys @yunohost @Framasoft

2025-07-28 19:58:52

SchugoSonic

divzilla@defcon.social

@pheonix How can u be so stupid and not use a local app & storage to create your work?

2025-07-28 20:03:38

3dcandy

3dcandy@mastodon.social

@pheonix trusting google here is the issue, there are way better cloud services....

2025-07-28 20:11:13

kungfuthis

kungfuthis@mastodon.social

@pheonix

Yup, never trust cloud services. Save your work locally to a thumb drive, make backups often...otherwise dont be surprised when all of your intellectual property goes *poof* in the cloud due to some obscure clause in their TOS.

2025-07-28 20:20:48

Gavin Sealey

gavinsealey@mastodon.social

@pheonix

I think it's getting worse. The more effectively we start using social media, the cloud or any ICT for our empowerment, the more the establishment will disrupt that use. The goal is to make thinking impossible as in Orwell's1984.

2025-07-28 20:50:37

yunchtime

yunchtime@wandering.shop

@pheonix

google doesn't live up to their credo.

save to hard drives, keep 'em cool & dry.

2025-07-28 20:54:24

Synapsenkitzler

synapsenkitzler@digitalcourage.social

@pheonix
Please add the link to the source in your posting, thank you.

2025-07-28 21:07:22

Kevin Russell

kevinrns@mstdn.social

@pheonix

Be careful out there, and boycott google.

2025-07-28 21:11:00

Chris

cdek@mastodon.social

@pheonix I'm moving everything to Proton, hopefully a reliable alternative

2025-07-28 21:26:09

Venc Dvorak

VencDvorak@mastodon.social

@pheonix Don't trust in plain data on cloud, trust in your own userspace encryption!

2025-07-28 21:31:24

Feoh

feoh@oldbytes.space

@pheonix I say this not to be a smart acre, but both because it's true AND because it's a useful mantra that can help keep you out of trouble:

"There is no cloud, only someone else's computer".

Would you write your book and save it on someone else's computer? Someone you didn't know and may or may not trust?

And remember, even if you trust the BRAND like GOOG or AMZN or MSFT or whatever, you also need to trust the millions of individual humans who have access to your data at the behest of that brand.

2025-07-28 21:38:40

Yoss1960

Yoss1960@mastodon.me.uk

@pheonix You don't need "with your creative work."

2025-07-28 22:36:49

UkeleleEric

UkeleleEric@mstdn.social

@pheonix Repeat after me: cloud servers are someone else's computer. Your hard drive and your computer is yours.

2025-07-28 22:38:08

unruhe

unruhe@mastodon.social

@pheonix never used a Cloud service too keep my data and I never gonna use Google Docs. If I have to, I'll use Proton Docs.

2025-07-28 22:58:46

goatsgomoo

goatsgomoo@app.wafrn.net

My advice:

Store your works locally (if you need a word processor, LibreOffice is good), and have a cloud backup solution for disaster recovery. (I use Backblaze, but there are many other options; you'll probably want one where you can set an encryption key so that even the backup service won't be able to read your files)

Then, regularly test your backups; go into the dashboard, check that the files you care about most are listed there, download them and check that the downloaded versions are what you expect.

Once that's in place, work out what (if any) cloud document or file sharing services you want to use for easy access between devices if you need it. For a Google Docs replacement, I'd recommend cryptpad.fr. If you want to just share the files between devices, I haven't heard of any issues with Dropbox (yet).
#software-recommendations

2025-07-28 23:09:07

Albirew

Albirew@soshar.dess.ga

@pheonix@fosstodon.org Don't trust cloud services at all

2025-07-28 23:11:39

Steve of Mastodon

marsfield@mastodon.social

@pheonix I'm not sure I'm helping by mentioning that many years ago, when the security of personal docs in cloud services was a concern, one solution was to upload only an encrypted folder. Nowadays, commercial (like Synology or QNAP) or roll-your-own NAS is the way to go. It's also cheaper in the long term; no cloud tax.

2025-07-28 23:27:22

libramoon

libramoon@mastodon.social

@pheonix

I do multiple backups, thumb drive, my blogs, "Delectable Mountains" writers' site

2025-07-28 23:39:46

Aurora 🏳️‍🌈 :Dahlia-Unicode-Pink:

celestiallavendar@icedoatmilk.coffee

@pheonix@fosstodon.org So what are the recommendations for an accessible way to write on mobile and desktop using your own infrastructure?

Something like LibreOffice won't work for me without cloud sync, and Obsidian doesn't support cross platform sync between Android, Windows, and iPad + uses a cloud host for that sync regardless.

2025-07-28 23:47:27

Jenkins. Tom Jenkins. 🤮🤢🤮

ewos1986@norden.social

@pheonix some tend to learn it the hard way: G**gle is evil.

2025-07-28 23:58:27

hellosilverpatriot

hellosilverpatriot@social.vivaldi.net

@pheonix The person in question should sue google for breaking their side of the terms of service. This is why I have a google account but I never use it for anything personal.

2025-07-29 00:38:07

Jim Patterson 🇨🇦

SheamusPatt@mstdn.ca

@pheonix Don't trust Google, at least.
There are a number of zero-knowledge cloud services out there - I use Mega, Spider Oak is another. They only store encrypted stuff, so can't scan it for terms of service violations. (You need your own tools to create docs of course).
Still some level of trust involved, but much less chance of censorship.
https://www.cbackup.com/articles/zero-knowledge-cloud-storage.html
#ZeroKnowledge

2025-07-29 00:40:14

Ian

soviut@hachyderm.io

@pheonix So if you want to know if Google is reading your documents, now you know.

2025-07-29 01:51:17

Fat_Farang

Fat_Farang@mastodon.social

@pheonix I encrypt everything, even photos, before putting it on the cloud. I don't trust 'em; never have, never will.

2025-07-29 03:25:29

ilzo

ilzo@oulipo.social

@pheonix If you want history tools such as what GDocs has, you could do writing with Git.

2025-07-29 05:01:06

arceuthobium

theothersimo@mastodon.social

@pheonix as the saying goes, there is no cloud, there is only someone else’s computer.

2025-07-29 05:12:35

Just Bob ♒🇺🇲🪖🐧

bob@beamship.mpaq.org

@pheonix

But use it for keeping data like a street paper with everything including SSNs does so that they can sell it to the governments, is okay...

2025-07-29 06:49:06

Petra Schmidt

kunstahanit@literatur.social

@pheonix
I write on my desktop with an local Program. Why writing online? If you have no Access to the Internet, you can not work at it. For Safty I Save it on a seperate Harddrive that had Oulived 3 Computers. Is the third Harddrive now.
It includes Data that goes Back to 2000.

2025-07-29 08:01:07

Space Catitude 🚀

TerryHancock@realsocial.life

@pheonix

This stuff will fit on a USB stick.

And even a terabyte portable USB hard drive is not that expensive.

Own your data. Own the device it is stored on. Don't trust services to last.

2025-07-29 11:02:28

Alexander Goeres 𒀯

jabgoe2089@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

@Pheonix i always wonder why anybody would want to use google docs when not being forced to use it? there is plethora of text editors and text processors out there that won't glue you to the bene- or malevolence of some tech giant ....