What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You! Part I

MEMORY PRESERVATION: THE PROBLEM WITH FREE

Sampling the Status Quo

Chances are you use one of the companies on the chart above. You’re probably getting the service for free – or at least you were in the beginning. And whoever you’re using they’ve probably sweetened the pot with features like free facial recognition and automatic tagging. Why in the world would you consider paying for permanent storage from a company you may have never heard of? Well, maybe I can give you a few reasons.

Guarantees the Safety of Your Files

Have you read the terms and agreements of your cloud service? Probably not. You just assumed a big household name like Amazon or iCloud, would do the right thing? Right? Wrong!!

Virtually every other cloud company besides FOREVER actually informs you in their terms and agreements you are merely being granted a license to use their cloud space. By uploading your images there, you agree to release the licensee from any liability. They are free to delete, compress, share or transfer your images as they see fit. In fact, they probably will also warn you to have your images backed up elsewhere. Is that what you thought you had signed up for?

Perhaps you did know that stipulation, but you thought that was just the way things are and you had no idea you had any other options. Well, there is a cloud provider who will guarantee the safety of your images for your life plus 100 years. It’s called FOREVER.

No Data Mining

Do you know what data mining is? Remember when Facebook got into trouble for sharing information about their users? That’s data mining. Most (virtually all) cloud providers offering free or cheap storage data mine. They tell you they data mine in the terms and agreements, because that’s how they can afford to offer you free cloud services. You’re the product, not the customer. When they offer you other “free” stuff like facial recognition and automatic tagging, it comes along with you giving them permission to mine your data even more specifically than they could without these services.

Perhaps that’s OK with you. I didn’t see any harm it in when I was a captive audience to their services – but now I really understand the way it works and I want no part of it and I certainly don’t want them having any part of me.

No Advertising

As to Advertising, most of us have gotten used to it, so it may not be as compelling a reason to consider FOREVER as some of the other things I told you about today. We’ve gotten almost to the point we don’t even see the ads at the top, bottom and sides of our screens. You’ve probably got a pop-up blocker on your computer. Who cares? Right?

Well, once you have experienced a cloud without any advertising, you’ll care and when you couple it with the relief of secure storage that won’t be data mined, you start to understand how FOREVER is very different from whatever cloud storage you’ve been using.

You think about these things I’ve told you about today and next week, I’ll reveal a few other things you might not have realized about your free/cheap cloud service.