A recent price slash by Google’s cloud data storage service indicates the company wants to stay competitive. But it does not mean users can assume their data is safe from curious minds and assorted Government agencies.
The drop in price for Google’s Drive service means it will cost $1.99 a month to store 100 gigabytes (GB), down from $4.99.
Meanwhile, the $49.99-a-month charge for 1 terabyte falls to $9.99. There will still be no charge for 15 GB or less.
The new prices compare well with other services. Microsoft’s OneDrive costs $50 a year for 100 GB, or about $4.20 a month.
Dropbox charges $9.99 a month for the same amount of data, while Amazon bills about $55 a year. Apple’s iCloud offers a maximum extra 50 GB, which costs about $110 annually. Free service is only offered to those who do not have a lot to store.
Google Drive and other cloud services allow users to store documents, pictures, videos and other data on remote servers so they can be accessed at any time from other computers or mobile devices. Bear in mind when setting up such a service that the operator always has access to the data, as do, in some places, Government security officials. If snooping Government eyes are a concern, consider encrypting data before putting it up on the cloud.