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Manila Bulletin devider Others devider 2023: The year you own your content

2023: The year you own your content

Published Jan 3, 2023 10:43 am

At the start of 2023, I was greeted by two articles, both written at the end of 2022 (probably a few hours before I read it considering the time zones), that simply enforce the need for us to own and control all our content/data (posts, photos, videos, you name it).

Each article shows us how dependent we are at others in managing our data, and that we have options in reducing our dependence. "Your Memories, Their Cloud" by Kashmir Hill of the New York Times, shows us that our photos and videos are mostly stored on the cloud, i.e., somebody else's computers. Alphabet (Google and YouTube), Apple, and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) practically have control of all of these personal assets. It may be privately encrypted (as Apple's iCloud, with Advanced Data Protection enabled - you should do this as soon as you can), but control of the storage is theirs. Should any of these companies decide to suspend or revoke your access, then you're screwed!

Our heavy reliance on their services is a risk that we take considering the convenience that it brings - auto-upload, auto-classification, etc. "Bring back personal blogging" by Monique Judge of TheVerge, like Ms. Hill, highlighted that most of what we post online now reside on Facebook and Twitter.

Whilst you can request a copy of your data, you are still at the mercy of these companies. Similar to the scenario above, if these companies decide to suspend or revoke your account, what now? Both articles strengthen the argument in favor of owning and controlling your data.

Owning your posts by blogging and posting the URL of your blog entry on Facebook and Twitter *IS* the right thing to do. Should Facebook and Twitter decide to censor your post and delete it on their sites, you still have your blog. Readers can follow you on these social media sites and/or follow your blog directly. Since most blogging software support RSS, readers have an even better way in accessing your content. So how do I minimize the dependence on these companies and the risks associated with it? For articles and posts, tweets (Twitter) and toots/posts (Mastodon) are automatically deleted every 30 days.

Now that I am not as active on Twitter as before, tweets are mostly cross-posts from my Mastodon accounts (follow me on https://social.lol/@rom directly). Blog posts on Medium and Micro.blog are archived on my own server. I have reduced my dependence on these companies, and ensured that my content are fully managed by me!

As for photos and videos, well, most are on iCloud and Flickr. However, I make sure that I have them on my own local storage as well. The local storage are not meant for photos and videos to be shared outside of my immediate family, so they're safe. I use PhotoSync to copy photos and videos on my iPhone (that are automatically uploaded to iCloud) to my local storage devices.

Flickr is an extension of my iCloud library - those that are meant to be shared online, and hence does not need backing-up. Storage device prices are dropping considerably, so best to get a couple and save your data locally. This 2023, make sure that you have full control of every bit of data that you create. There is nothing wrong with having them on somebody else's computers, but ensure that you have a copy that you control. Good luck!

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