Alternatives to Google Drive

With Google on the list of companies that (willingly or begrudgingly) handed over data to the NSA, what alternatives are there to Google drive where some of your most personal data may be stored? Lets take a look at a few different options.


Dropbox
 
I've mentioned Dropbox before, but its worth putting on this list too. You get 2 GB for free to start, but if you send out some invites to friends and they accept, you get a 500 MB bonus for each person that signs up with a current maximum of 18 GB. Beyond this, Dropbox offers a few different storage options starting with 100 GB for $9.99/month. In addition, your data is encrypted in their cloud, the downside being that y0u don’t choose the encryption key.



Dump Truck 

Dump Truck by Golden Frog offers 5 GB of space on sign-up, and features 500 MB of additional storage per referral, same as Dropbox. In addition, its pricing plans are nearly identical to Dropbox, though Dumptruck's offeings start at 50 GB for $5/month, followed by 100 GB for $9.99/month. From there, the pricing/GB is the same as Dropbox, minus the discount if you pay for a year of service upfront. It even offers the encryption, though it claims to be more secure than "other services" as it made its own apps, and owns its network and servers, therefore having a higher degree of privacy for users.




SugarSync

SugarSync offers 5 GB free, and slightly different pricing plans than Dropbox & Dump Truck, though the 100 GB for 9.99/month is the same, with a maximum of 250 GB for 24.99/month, it also has special options for businesses. Like the other two, it also offers apps for Windows/Mac/iOS/Android, to easily sync files/folders across devices. This is all done securely as SugarSync, like the others, features file encryption measures for your privacy.

Alternatives to Google & Yahoo search

 Word is that the NSA was getting it's data from a slew of tech companies, limiting your use of their services is on sure-fire way to ensure they don't have a much data to hand over should it be requested, so what are the alternatives to doing a Google/Yahoo! search?

Duckduckgo started in 2008, and as a privacy-minded search engine, it doesn't track your IP, forward you search query to the sites you click on, install cookies, or otherwise track you or your searches, and its default is the more secure HTTPS. it does however compile the results of 50+ search engines, and filters out content mills designed to rank high in Google search rankings.

Startpage has been protecting users privacy since 2006, and enhanced its privacy procedures in 2009. It doesn't log IP addresses, set cookies, or otherwise track its users. In addition it has the European Privacy Seal for data protection. It also uses HTTPS to increase security, and unlike Duckduckgo, it offers image and video search.  

Using either of these two options will increase your online privacy instantly.