As of June 1, 2021, Google users will be paying to be the product when Google ends free unlimited Google Photos storage. After that date, Google combines storage of new photos with Gmail and Google Drive, currently limited to 15GB for free. To ease the (pain) transition, the company estimates when your current storage will run out, based on historical usage. Gee, thanks! Even worse, the company will purge inactive accounts. Free Google Workspace, formerly Google Apps, accounts suffered a similar fate.
This update breaks the terms of the original contract with users: give us access to sell the private info we collect from your photos, and we'll let you store and search them for free. But Google expects you to keep your part of the original bargain: it will continue to collect and market your personal information from those photos, even if you pay for storage. To make matters worse, Google makes deleting photos difficult for those who want to continue using Google's storage within free limits. For now, you can still add photos while they're free. But those who don't agree to the new terms have alternatives to the impacted services: Gmail, Google Photos and Google Drive.
Paying for the Privilege of Being Sold
In the 1973 equivalent of a Ted Talk, Richard Serra and Carlota Fay Schoolman bought airtime to broadcast a short video titled "Television Delivers People," which led to the phrase "If you are not paying for it, you're not the customer; you're the product being sold" from the user blue_beetle (aka Andrew Lewis) in the MetaFilter community weblog.
But the original quote is apropos to the Google Photos storage policy update if you replace "commercial broadcasting" with "Google Photos, Google Drive and Gmail" and "viewer" with "user": "In commercial broadcasting, the viewer pays for the privilege of having himself sold. "
Some believe the service was intentionally designed to maximize storage use, making it more difficult for users to stay under the new storage limits. Google Photos users complain that Google makes it extremely difficult to delete photos to reduce storage utilization. Doing so requires users to manually select photos. But Google limits the selection to 500 or 2000 (it's not clear what the limit is, only that there is a limit). One frustrated user developed a script to create a Google Photos Delete All Tool. For its part, Google promises new management tools to delete unwanted photos.
Add Photos While They're Still Free
Until June 21, 2021, you can still upload photos for free. These photos will not be counted against your file limit, so now is a good time to catch up on pictures that haven't already been loaded.
Use the Google Backup and Sync tool to upload photos in batch from a desktop
Alternatives
For those forced to make a new bargain, several options provide similar functionality without requiring permission to use personal information derived from email, photos and files for advertising purposes. Most offer limited free versions that quickly require paid upgrades. But it's unlikely to change the terms of usage after years of use, so you know what you'll be getting before choosing to use that option. In addition to not selling access to your personal information to advertisers, most offer additional privacy features like encryption. Most offer discounts for the week of Black Friday and for Cyber Monday.
Gmail Alternatives
Several companies offer Gmail alternatives with similar functionality, including conversation views, spam filters, custom domains and enhanced privacy. Some offer features not available in Gmail, such as encryption of email, contacts and calendar events, and self-destructing email. The 2 strongest contenders, ProtonMail and Tutanota offer:
Privacy
No ads, no data mining, strict EU privacy
No access to your encrypted mailbox (may not apply to other party's email), contacts and calendar
Can send encrypted or password-protected mail
Security
2-factor authentication
Hosted domains
Spam filtering and the ability to report phishing
Available on F-Droid (alternative Android Appstore)
ProtonMail (web, Android, iOS), is free for 500MB, and $40 / year for 5GB. It also offers:
Self-destructing emails
Tools to migrate from Gmail
Import email from Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo
Import contacts from CSV files from Outlook, Outlook Express, Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail and others
Also offers top-rated VPN service (free and paid)
Tutanota (web, Android, iOS, macOS, Linux, Windows), is free for 1GB, €14 / year for 1GB, or €36 / year for 10GB. It also offers
USB key (aka U2F) authentication
Tools to migrate from Gmail are planned
Does not support conversation view or IMAP connections
Other Gmail options you may wish to consider include:
Librem Mail - expensive, but also offers VPN, Chat and Social (via Mastadon)
Google Photos / Google Drive Alternatives
Several cloud storage and online backup providers offer solid competitors for Google Photos and Google Drive and have similar file size limits for free and paid storage. Though few offer Google's advanced features (which also compromise privacy) like facial recognition and integration with 3rd party apps, the products offer:
Ability to backup, view and play files, photos, music, videos and more
Privacy
No ads, no data mining, strict EU privacy
No access to your encrypted files
Security
2-factor authentication
Differentiators include file size limit, encryption options, sharing and collaboration, integration with 3rd party apps, security, and migration capabilities.
pCloud (web, Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows) is the strongest cloud storage option that offers encryption, no filesize limit and a few 3rd-party integrations. pClould is an excellent replacement for DropBox, and also ofsers:
10GB free, $8/mon, lifetime options at significantly reduced costs, especially during Black Friday / Cyber Monday
Upgrade for encryption at additional cost
Ability to share / play files with password protection and expiration
pCloud Save browser add-on to download images, videos and audio from the Internet
pCloud migration tool to backup Dropbox, Google Drive, Facebook, Instagram
Excellent browser tools for playing music and video via browser
Sync (web, Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows) is the 2nd strongest cloud storage providers and offers:
5GB free, $8/month (billed annuallly) for 2TB
Encryption included at no additiional cost
Limited sharing features (no previews, browser player) due to encryption
iDrive (web, Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows) is the strongest online backup option with limited sharing and no collaboration features, but also offers,
5GB free, $70 / year with significant discounts for the 1st year during the week of Black Friday
Data hosted in US, but encrypted
Works on unlimited devices
Private decryption key
Ability to backup drive and drive image
Ability to sync folders (just like pCloud and Sync)
Facial recognition on photos (not tested)
Other Google Drive / Google Photos options you may wish to consider:
IceDrive (10GB free, sharing, but no collaboration)
Mega (15GB free) - bandwidth limits
Box (10GB free, 250MB file size limit)
Degoo (100GB free, no sharing)
Dropbox (2GB free, great 3rd party integration, pricey upgrades)
Backblaze (Unlimited online backup, 1 device, must connect every 30 days, no mobile backup!)
The weeks that include Black Friday and Cyber Monday are a great time to pick up paid replacements for GMail, Google Photos and Google Drive. SwampGeek recommends these privacy-respecting replacements for Gmail, Google Photos and Google Drive:
ProtonMail
pClould for photo sync and sharing
IDrive (if you aren't already using an online backup service)
With these services, you are a paying customer, rather than a paying product.
Posted by:
kguske on Sunday, November 22, 2020 @ 22:42:10 CST
Anil Sabharwal, Head of Google Photos, May 28, 2015 introducing Google Photos: "
ProtonMail
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