Where is your data, really? The cloud explained simply
Photos, budget, notes: it's all "in the cloud". But where exactly, and who can access it? A jargon-free look, plus the local alternative.
Your holiday photos, this month's budget, your notes, your favourite recipes: it's all "in the cloud". The phrase sounds reassuring, almost poetic. But where is that data, really? And who can see it?
The cloud is just someone else's computer
There is nothing cloudy about the cloud. It's thousands of servers lined up in huge buildings called data centres, run by a company. When you save a file "online", it leaves your phone or computer and gets copied onto those machines.
In practice, it's often copied several times, sometimes across several countries, so it isn't lost if a server fails. Your photo therefore exists in several places you don't know about, on machines you don't own.
What happens when you upload a photo?
Upload: the photo leaves your device and travels across the internet to the provider.
Storage: it's saved on their servers, then duplicated for safety.
Processing: depending on the service, it may be analysed to recognise faces, places or objects, build automatic albums, or improve the provider's products.
Retention: when you delete it, it may still exist in backups for a while.
None of this is necessarily malicious. But at every step, the provider makes the decisions, based on terms of service that few people read.
Who can access your data?
The provider itself, and any subcontractors, within the limits of its terms.
Authorities, depending on the laws of the country where the company is based. A 2018 US law, the CLOUD Act, allows US authorities to request data from an American company even when that data is stored in Europe.
Hackers, through a data breach or a weak password. Big platforms are prime targets precisely because they hold the data of millions of people.
And there's one last, more mundane risk: losing access. A locked account, a lapsed subscription, a service shutting down… and your data can become unreachable overnight.
The cloud has real benefits too
Let's be fair: the cloud is genuinely useful. Your files are available everywhere, easy to share, and survive a lost phone. The problem isn't the cloud itself; it's not knowing what you put there, or on what terms.
The alternative: keep your data at home
Local storage is the opposite: your data stays on your own devices. Nobody else stores it, nobody else analyses it, and it remains available even without an internet connection.
The trade-off is that you're responsible for it. So remember to make regular backups, for instance on an external drive, so nothing is lost if your computer breaks down.
A five-minute check-up
List the online services where you store photos, documents, notes or passwords.
For each one, ask yourself: what would I lose if this account disappeared tomorrow?
Turn on two-factor authentication for important accounts.
Check the sharing and automatic analysis settings for your photos.
Keep a local copy of what really matters.
Our choice at MySpaceCube
That's why we built MySpaceCube: a personal space where your recipes, budget, shopping lists and calendar stay on your machine. Your devices sync with each other over your own WiFi network, without going through our servers. We don't see your data, simply because it never reaches us.
The cloud isn't the enemy. But your data deserves to live where you decide.