Privacy Blog

"Friends don’t let friends get spied on.' – Richard Stallman, President of the Free Software Foundation and longtime advocate of privacy in technology.

Cloud Services

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CryptPad: a Privacy-Focused Collaborative Online Office Suite with Chat

If you or your family or your team at work need privacy and security, you might want to check out CryptPad. CryptPad is a privacy protecting alternative to Google Docs, Microsoft Office Online, and other online office suites. And while protecting privacy, it still allows for real-time collaboration between creative partners. Yes, you can (optionally) share your documents with others. The suite includes rich text (like a word processor), presentation, […]

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Follow-up: Zoom versus all the Other Teleconferencing Products

In a recent article, I briefly mentioned Zoom, a very popular teleconferencing product that allows for one-on-one video conversations, groups of people participating in a group video meeting, or even online webinars with up to 10,000 people in the audience. A reader questioned the use of Zoom by asking, “I’ve been concerned about security issues that have been reported with regards to Zoom. Yet it is being used by large […]

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Reminder: Zello for Cell Phones is not an Actual Walkie-Talkie, and Still Needs Internet Connectivity to Work

Note: This article is off-topic. That is, it is not about privacy or any related topics. However, if you are somewhere near the eastern seaboard of the United States this week, this is information you probably need to know. From the Apple Insider web site: With Hurricane Dorian approaching the coast of Florida, word is again spreading about “push to talk” iPhone app Zello. However, downloaders should be aware that […]

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Secure Email Provider Tutanota a Launches Free Encrypted Calendar

From the TutaNota Blog: “Our encrypted calendar – Tutanota Calendar – has just been added to your secure emails. This new feature brings amazing privacy improvements. With our encryption expertise, we have not only made sure that all data you enter is encrypted, we are also encrypting notifications for upcoming events. In contrast to other calendar services, we do not know when you have an appointment, where you have an […]

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AWS Announces General Availability of Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive — the Lowest Cost Storage in the Cloud

If you want the security of backing up your important data files to a safe and secure off-site web storage service in the cloud, you might be interested in the new press release from Amazon Web Services (AWS): SEATTLE–Today, Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company (NASDAQ: AMZN), announced the general availability of Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive, a new storage class that provides secure, durable object storage for […]

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Google Duo Video Chat App is Available on the Web

This article is “off topic.” That is, it has nothing to do with privacy. However, it concerns one of my favorite video chat apps: Google Duo. I thought I would share this info with anyone else who is interested. Google has begun the rollout of the web version of the video calling service, Google Duo. It has always been available on Apple iOS (iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch), as well […]

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Skype Alternatives

Skype is a telecommunications application software product that specializes in providing video chat and voice calls between computers, tablets, mobile devices, the Xbox One console, and smartwatches via the Internet and to regular telephones. It is one of the more popular methods of making voice calls (emulating telephones) over the Internet. Microsoft purchased Skype from a privately-owned company in May 2011 for $8.5 billion. At the time, Skype was very […]

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Tresorit’s Super Secure Online File Storage

NOTE: This is an update to an article I published in 2015. Tresorit recently made some major updates to the service and this article reflects those changes. The big news in technology these days is “the cloud.” In fact, the cloud offers many different services but the most common one for consumers is file storage. Companies like Dropbox, Google Drive, SugarSync, OneDrive, and others provide off-site backup services and also allow […]

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Use Encipher.it to Quickly and Easily Encrypt Your E-mail Messages

Encipher.it is an amazing service. It secures your email messages and other data so that none of the bad guys can read it, it protects your work or personal files from identity thieves, it allows you to share confidential information easily with friends or co-workers, and it is available free of charge. What is there to dislike about Encipher.it? Encipher.it offers several methods of use. In its easiest-to-use form, simply […]

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Use the FREE On My Disk Software to Create Your Own Private and Secure Personal Cloud

You probably have read a lot in this web site and elsewhere about the various file storage services in the cloud. Some of the better known ones include Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud, SugarSync, SpiderOak, Tresorit, Mega.nz, and perhaps a few dozen others. These are valuable services that allow you to gain access to your files wherever you are, to (optionally) share files with others, and to copy files from one […]

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