Dropbox spooks users with new AI features that send data to OpenAI when used
Dropbox spooks users by sending data to OpenAI for AI search features
Edited the title to what the article has now.
... enabled-by-default...
... shares your Dropbox data with OpenAI ...
... an experimental AI-powered search feature. ...
... user data [IS] shared with third-party AI partners...
This would be more than enough reason for me to cancel and delete my account if I were still a customer.
If you can't trust a company with your data, then you can't trust the company at all.
Why do companies have to be so opaque with things? If they really wanted users to try some experimental, data-sharing feature, offer it to them as an opt-in beta feature and pay them for being a guinea pig.
Consent with compensation is way better than non-consent with zero transparency.
This should be justification enough for any enterprise company using Dropbox to dump them overboard
Fuck. I have been using them for backup for years, I currently have everything on my NAS but still like having important stuff in an offsite backup.
Anyone know a reasonably priced cloud storage provider that has integration (either 3rd or 1st party) with Unraid?
Edit: Dropbox just renewed my annual subscription last night at midnight 🙃
Double edit: I went into my Dropbox web portal and found that the setting was enabled by default for me. I'm in the US.
I use wasabi, it's an Amazon s3 compatible storage solution, $5/month/TB with no network or access fees
I use Unraid too. What app are you using for backup? Most allow for encrypted backups which renders this issue moot (though still shitty).
I use Duplicacy (not to be confused with the unreliable Duplicati) and send encrypted backups to B2 Backblaze.
I had good luck with B2 backblaze but recently switched to storj for E2EE backups without having encrypted filenames in the browser. Overall these solutions are slower and more expensive than typical cloud backups, but it's well worth it to stick it to the man.
Edit: more expensive, not cheaper.
Did you read the article before freaking out?
There's a lot of missing context with those ellipsis. Enabled by default means you're just going to see the feature but it's not doing anything or sending any data until you interact with it. Even when you do it prompts you first to explain what it's going to do. If you don't want to see the feature at all you can just toggle it back off but no data has moved until you've consented to it.
Yes, a fair point that was mentioned in the article.
I may be speaking only for myself, but I don't want any new features enabled by default. Subsequent popups and warnings may be hastily ignored/skipped during a user's busy day, so it's too easy to accidentally give consent, and consent shouldn't be accidental.
Let users know about the feature in a newsletter or "what's new" section of the site, and let the user opt-in to try this new feature (if they wish). That's really the only ethical, transparent, and 100% way to ensure consent.
They made some seriously bad choices in the past few years that I honestly don't believe they can survive by 2030. Just like photobucket and vimeo, Dropbox has reached peak shit.
I already moved anything sensitive out of my pro account, switched to free, and now use it to store memes and porn since that realization.
Holy hell guys, did you all just read the headline and run to the comment section?
I, for one, have been trained by corporations and news agencies to react impulsively and without any deeper consideration for decades now.
/s
What? You expect people to actually read articles instead of jumping to conclusions based solely on the headlines? Outrageous
/s
Me, an intellectual, basing myself solely on the most legit looking comment instead of reading the article.
when you interact with it, it explains it needs to send this file to OpenAI
thread
They fucking WHAT.
ITT: not nearly enough people demanding that Dropbox execs go to prison for massive violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
Not nearly enough people have read the article and instead make rash decisions based on a misleading clickbait headline that has since been changed to "Dropbox spooks users with new AI features that send data to OpenAI when used "
Specifically asking the AI search tool to analyze a file for you kinda requires sending that file to OpenAI to be analyzed. And it even asks you if it's okay first.
It's just corps being corps. Even the guy who literally gave 10,000 people AIDS didn't get jail time. The Dropbox execs will be lucky to get anything more severe than a bouquet and a box of chocolates. We all know that, and no amount of demanding will do jack shit. Only your wallet has a voice that gets heard.
Can I talk to you about our lord and saviour Nextcloud?
Weird, I can’t find the setting in settings…
It's not in any of the articles, but in dropbox forums:
The Third-Party AI features are not available to everyone yet. The features are in alpha and are only available to customers on Dropbox Professional, Essentials, Business, Business Plus, and some customers on Dropbox Standard and Advanced.
If you're on a Basic, Plus or Family account, or you're part of one of the other groups that don't yet have access, the Third-Party AI features won't be available to you.
Same, it's not in my settings anywhere.
Pinned comment on original article says:
Didn't see it mentioned in the article, but per the linked FAQ it says the alpha AI applies to:
In countries with the preferred language set to English.
Excluding Canada, the UK (United Kingdom), and countries within the EEA (European Economic Area).
They set it for me in Canada, so they are lying there
Hmm. I’m in the US. But I maybe I didn’t tell Dropbox I prefer English back when I signed up nearly 20 years ago.
Enabled by default but can't be disabled...
I found it under "Third-party AI" on the web portal settings. It was enabled for me, I'm in the US.
How unsurprising, a headline that technically doesn't lie, but also gives a completely misleading impression. At least it has been fixed since: the current, accurate one is "Dropbox spooks users with new AI features that send data to OpenAI when used"
Because your files only get sent to the AI search service if you use the AI search feature, which it tells you will send the one specific file you are asking the AI to analyze to OpenAi. Which, you know... Duh?
The third-party AI toggle is only turned on to give all eligible customers the opportunity to view our new AI features and functionality, like Dropbox AI. It does not enable customers to use these features without notice. Any features that use third-party AI offer disclosure of third-party use, and link to settings that they can manage. Only after a customer sees the third-party AI transparency banner and chooses to proceed with asking a question about a file, will that file be sent to a third-party to generate answers. Our customers are still in control of when and how they use these features
Out of curiosity, do you (or anyone else reading this) have a screencap of the "third-party AI transparency banner" that the dropbox rep said is shown when using the functionality in question?
I did a quick ddg search for it, but couldn't find an example. I'd like to reserve judgement till I see the full verbiage of what is/was shown.
PSA: use Cryptomator if u gonna use public clouds
Also: public cloud + cryptomator > e2ee cloud (Proton etc)
Creates a client-side fully e2ee vault to safely store your cloud files in on whatever cloud is compatible (Dropbox, OneDrive, Sync, etc)
Dropbox can scan that AND my balls and share it with all their partners and I don't give a fuck lol
An interesting note: OneDrive really dislikes that, it reads your encrypted files as ransomware and asks you to say they're OK every time you upload something new. It's really annoying.
Then stop using it and go to Sync > Dropbox > Box (not 100% if it works for Box), way better
Of course OneDrive hates it, you're cucking Microsoft from access to your cleartext files.
I can't haz private files? 🥺
—Microsoft, definitely
That's neat, thanks!
So glad I stopped using dropbox as soon as they hired Condoleeza Rice.
There’s my people. I had to scroll too far!
I have no idea what this is about, can you explain?
EDIT: Oh it wasn't that hard to find
And this is precisely why you don't store your files in the cloud.
Me with my 70 gigabytes of furry porn commissions
*unencrypted
The cloud is just someone else's computer. I thank fuck all the time that I bothered to learn Linux, that time sink has opened so many badass doorways like learning how to set up nextcloud or NFS or Samba and hosting my own cloud in my basement.
RTFA
Of all things and companies in existence, I had never imagined Dropbox would betray me like that.
Tech companies are only as good as their financial health.
Loyalty is stupid.
In desperation, they will milk you.
Tech companies are only as good as their financial health.
This is true, in every way.
It only interacts with OpenAI when you use the feature and warns you about it ahead of time. None of your files were automatically sent over and if you don't want to use this feature they allow you to turn it off. This is in the article.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
In its FAQ, Dropbox contradicts this claim, saying, "We won’t let our third-party partners train their models on our user data without consent."
In July, the company announced an AI-powered feature called Dash that allows AI models to perform universal searches across platforms like Google Workspace and Microsoft Outlook.
Still, multiple Ars Technica staff who had no knowledge of the Dropbox AI alpha found the setting enabled by default when they checked.
It also says, "Only the content relevant to an explicit request or command is sent to our third-party AI partners to generate an answer, summary, or transcript."
Log into your Dropbox account on a desktop web browser, then click your profile photo > Settings > Third-party AI.
On that page, click the switch beside "Use artificial intelligence (AI) from third-party partners so you can work faster in Dropbox" to toggle it into the "Off" position.
The original article contains 518 words, the summary contains 147 words. Saved 72%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Only related to an explicit request. And yet to fulfill that request “tax documents related to business Y” will require that the API have a catalog of that data aggregated already to fulfill that request
Hey I was thinking about cloud backups. I gotta encrypt important files then if dropbox is gonna have AI go through them at will. My alternative was just copying stuff to a hard drive and shoving it in a safety deposit box...
Depending on how important those files are to you the safe deposit box might be a good "plan A".
NAS + cloud backup is the way to go. Any NAS software worth its salt can do E2EE backup with any old cloud backup solution.
Definitely not for the faint of heart though. If you don't actively enjoy fiddling then there aren't many good options. Maybe icloud if you trust Apple to not de-platform you.
Depending on how far away the box is, this might be the most efficient possible alternative.
If it takes you an hour to get the drive and plug it in, and the drive is 14TB, you're looking at a download speed of 31,000 megabits per second.
Unsettling
Be interesting to see how long after today this stands
Not available in Europe, UK and Canada, but in California. Interesting
Dafuq...
I found this in my settings. I never know if the option is on or off... It's on, right?
When you enable it it says below that "do not sell or share is now active"
That message is not visible for me. It just shows my email address and the option to save preferences or to exit
wait hold on a second, don't I have a reasonable expectation that my non public files aren't public?
Not according to Dropbox ToS. You already agree to allow them to use your materials for marketing and research purposes. This is only a minor step further.
Swap to mega.io it's encrypted and open source
Peak comedy is someone believing convicted felon Kim Dotcom is going to treat your data or privacy with an ounce of respect.
Is.. is Dropbox.. pirating user files????
That's my intellectual property in there
Is it still?
It's OUR intellectual property, comrade.
(My money though)
Sincerely,
Dropbox