Replies

> You have to understand the current Microsoft business plan. They want all your data on their servers. If they destroy your local storage enough times, you'll get with the program.

They all want your data on their servers — Microsoft is not even the most egregious (that would be Google).

The notion of “The Cloud” is one of the most pernicious concepts to come along in a long time. “The Cloud” isn’t a cloud — IT’S JUST A HARD DRIVE IN SOME OTHER GUY’S DATACENTER. There’s no freakin’ magic about it. And you pay for the privilege of him looking at all your data, whether it’s direct fee or the fact that he sells your data for marketing intel.

The only major company I’m aware of that truly protects their users’ data completely is Apple — the company cannot decrypt it because the user is the only holder of the encrypt/decrypt keys. The downside is that the user is responsible for not losing/forgetting those keys, but that’s still a better deal than letting the company have the ability to decrypt your data.

the company cannot decrypt it because the user is the only holder of the encrypt/decrypt keys

This is crypto 101, dayglo. If you manage your own keys, this isn't a problem, regardless of whose cloud you use.

Invest in a YubiKey, encrypt ALL of your disks (BitLocker works just fine), and it doesn't matter if your data is on your computer, a local NAS, on a floppy disk in a drawer, or on a DVD in a safe, if you own the key, they can't see your data. Period.