Laugh, Ross but how about all your art work here on WC, or elsewhere?

How about a zip drive or HDD in your house... if what's yours isn't yours online, why stop there?

The whole point of this is to motivate folks to let their representatives know, and to raise an unholy stink about it.

Typically when uploading your property to a site [such as here] there are specific terms of service/use associated with doing so.

IF a cloud service stated conditions PRIOR to use that your stuff may be used/abused/taken/sifted through/whatever then that's entirely fine and fair.

The real issue arises where the rules change AFTER 'agreement' and without consent from BOTH contracted parties.

If legislation alters the TOS then the contract is void.

If you cannot/will not sue for breach simply pull your stuff and avoid like the plague.

The cloud is being forced on us.  Apple, Amazon and a few others already have it so integrated that you have to rely on it or have your own server and data archive.  

Tablet devices for example don't currently have enough storage to maintain everything you end up getting.

That's why you get a 32gb SD card AND a portable USB drive.... and say: "F**k the cloud"

I have a 32gb SD card for downloads, etc, and a 500gb portable drive for storing music, video and photos...

.... which allows me to say: "F**k the cloud"

To be clear: 

The issue has NOTHING to do with WC per se. WC isn't really a "data storage facility" in any traditional sense, but with the government's motion, there is no clear definition of what that might be.

It has to do with ownership and the government's stand that after uploading anything to the Cloud. It has to do with as Jafo put it, "where the rules change AFTER 'agreement' and without consent from BOTH contracted parties."

The remedy some would say, is to pull what you uploaded. The problem with that (again, not with WC) is that Cloud services back up what you uploaded (copied it) and it remains with them thus you have all the risk and no benefit.

It also has to do with your Fourth Amendment rights and whether they exist.

Also, whether you have a file on your HDD and have to email it, is it yours anymore? After all, the government might say, "You uploaded it to an ISP and from there it was sent onward. Therefore, you no longer own it."

Don't forget that if you do shun online storage and use some type of in-house solution, make a copy to be stored off site or invest in some type of fireproof container (and leave it by an outside wall so you can find it after the fire)  It's not worth it to be grabbing all your goodies if the house is on fire. And if you are not there when it is then what? Back it up and store it off site. Rotate through your media.

If the redundant copy is encrypted, you can have a friend store it for you, as well.

Primary reason is off site storage.  Off site, and it will not burn down or be stolen.  But then the risk of the company being nabbed by the feds.

Cloud storage is the best platform for storing online date. I have been using cloud storage services from different providers. I always got full reliability and storage with 100% automation. Specially DropBox, JustCloud, ZipCloud are some of those Cloud storage services who are providing most secure storage platform. Government can not be able to by pass security shields of these storage services as it comes under the violation of privacy policy. Cloud storage has far better features than any other storage options or devices.

Source: http://www.cloudreviews.com/blog/cloud-storage-benefits

WTF is the cloud anyway. Why do people need to invent names for stuff?

I suppose it's to make something potentially dodgy look cool. "Hey, look at me - all my stuff is in the cloud, I'm sooo trendy"...

Uploading all your personal stuff to a somewhat vaporous environment is asking for it

Silly humans.

If your cloud data has any value, and you work for hire, then it is owned by your employer. Normal people (due to their high time preference) do not have IP rights to lose.

rahal... Sorry, but I don't understand what you're talking about.

Here's an extreme case: Say you do digital art (original digital art). You want to back it up to protect it. You use a service which gives tou a huge amount of storage free, and it's off your machine (which you back up to an external disk) so you figure it's safe.

Along comes a hacker and steals what you stored online. The government says he owes you nothing because once you upload it, it isn't yours. Same for Adobe and MS. If they store their stuff online, they have no IP rights, per our government's absurd thinking. Of course the same isn't true for them. Ask Julian Assange.

My point is that the product of your work at a place of employment (or in a role for which you are compensated) belongs to the one paying you. It doesn't belong to you: It'll be in your employment contract. If you make bagels for a company, the bagels clearly don't belong to you. The same is true for IP, and art.

The same is true for YOUR art.

Say you make a chair and store it in space you rent from someone else. Then a third party comes along and takes it. When he's dragged into court for theft he says, "You can't try me for theft. Only if it's stored in his own house is it yours."

Nonsense.

Just popping back to reply.

As a general rule people seem to think they have more rights than they really do. They believe they have the same legal status as companies and private individuals: hence they think they have right to privacy, freedom of speech, to intellectual property etc.

Whereas the truth is, as an employee, your rights are pretty much limited to what is specifically granted by statute and nothing more.