Taking Control: Create your own Personal Cloud

[Overmind One]

Just pointing out OneDrive is a different animal from those others.

It is. Much different and much better from a security standpoint (business to business, business to WWW). But it isnt safe from government intrusion, and Microsoft products are the most friendly with the NSA and other national security agencies and law enforcement. They are VERY good pals, and their relationship has lived long and prospered since Microsoft got into the Pentagon.

In January 2013, Microsoft landed a $617 MILLION contract with the Department of Defence for Windows 8 upgrades.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-...ows-8-lifted-by-617-million-defense-deal.html

This is clearly a case of "Ill scratch your back if you scratch mine". Windows 8 is a fail in the enterprise and in the consumer market (as compared to its previous iterations). In a real sense, Microsoft IS the NSA in the cyber world. The entire agency runs on Windows.

 

[Joelist]

Look at recent news. Both MS and others have started notifying people when they get government requests for their data, files etc. whether the government desires it or not - in essence defying the gag order. Plus there is brewing legal action against the feds over their tapping into private data links as constitutional concerns (search without a warrant). So the relationship is getting less cozy.

 

[Overmind One]

Look at recent news. Both MS and others have started notifying people when they get government requests for their data, files etc. whether the government desires it or not - in essence defying the gag order. Plus there is brewing legal action against the feds over their tapping into private data links as constitutional concerns (search without a warrant). So the relationship is getting less cozy.

I agree with this. But litigation always comes after the fact, and is usually in favor of the government. I want to take a more proactive, preventative approach. I dont have to worry as much about suing the government if they cant get into my data, do I? With TrueCrypt (http://www.truecrypt.org/) encrypting the entire drive (forget Bitlocker, which is another Microsoft product), encrypted server-less sync with encryption, it isnt easy for them at all. But hey, if they really want somebody, they can do what they want. But casual snooping is not going to yield much. I dont have anything to hide, but I just want stuff protected.

 

[Joelist]

I agree with you. Just thought it was interesting news. Myself, the only stuff I have in the cloud is nonsense they can have (like goofy pictures I have posted here). Anything I have that is of real value is in local secured storage such as an Ironkey.

 

[Overmind One]

And the winner is: Bittorrent Sync. It is server-less, and functions much like a VPN, a lot like Dropbox, and is lightning fast. It is also the most secure, and it can send TrueCrypt files as well. Anybody can do this, no webhost needed, for FREE. But for an Android phone which has photos or any other file folders on the external drive, you need to do the following:

1. Root the phone
2. Install SDfix from Google Play here: http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/0...-android-4-4-kitkat-with-sdfix-root-required/
3. Once run and the phone rebooted, you can set Bittorrent Sync to sync your DCOM folder or any other folder on your external SD card.

Since KitKat, the external SD card is no longer writeable by apps or by the user, and without root access you cannot change that. Rooting takes less than 10 minutes from download of the files (ODIN and CF Autoroot), hooking up the phone to the PC and running ODIN. One minute later, your phone reboots and is the same as before, only rooted. Download Root Checker to verify root access here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.joeykrim.rootcheck

Once rooted, you can run the SDfix and you will have control of the external card again. Sync away!


I will not de-commission my OwnCloud server instance for about a week, to see how this is working. I am now going to see how it works on my Macbook Pro. This scheme would not work for an enterprise which uses servers, so my clients using Owncloud should keep using it.

 

[Joelist]

Shouldn't you really be running a non-Google version of Android? Remember that Google Android is laced through with Google spyware and to manually get rid of it all is a pain (have to get rid of gmail, google play, google now and so on). I've been running Cyanogenmod 11 with no Google bits at all and the few apps I want I can side load.

It is WAY faster than regular Android and has no stutters or freezes either. And it is easy peasy to keep it clean and simple because I have full control on not only which apps are installed but on how they run.

 

[Overmind One]

Shouldn't you really be running a non-Google version of Android? Remember that Google Android is laced through with Google spyware and to manually get rid of it all is a pain (have to get rid of gmail, google play, google now and so on). I've been running Cyanogenmod 11 with no Google bits at all and the few apps I want I can side load.

With root, you can easily remove all of the Google crap, along with the carrier crap that comes on the phone. That isnt a chore for me at all, since I like to see what they have put on there. Nobody cares that Voicemail transcription is installed AND turned on by default on every carrier cellphone on the market. They call it "Visual Voicemail" or "Voice to Text" or whatever, but the function of it is to transcript your incoming voicemail into a searchable index of words. No thanks! I can HEAR the VOICEmail just fine, thank you. It is presented as a "feature" when it is literally acting as a witness.

It is WAY faster than regular Android and has no stutters or freezes either. And it is easy peasy to keep it clean and simple because I have full control on not only which apps are installed but on how they run.

You have root. That says it all.

 

[Joelist]

Yup. I have root.

Rooted then wiped it all out and replaced it with CM11 which I configured to my preferences.

 

[Overmind One]

Yup. I have root.

Rooted then wiped it all out and replaced it with CM11 which I configured to my preferences.

Im with my stock Tmobile ROM rooted and stripped to my preferences.

 

[Overmind One]

Yup. I have root.

Rooted then wiped it all out and replaced it with CM11 which I configured to my preferences.

Google has grown into a threat greater than Microsoft. Perhaps they want to toss Microsoft out of the government contract they have gotten unchallenged for so long? Where is their bona fide desktop or server OS? Whatever the case, I want to stay aware of this increasing security encroachment on private data.