I use gmail because... well, why not? I have an account that dates back to when gmail was barely out in Beta format and you could only get an account by invitation, and that has worked out pretty well.

These days, though, Google is hounding me to send them money for "storage."

Because — of course — they constantly hawk the "convenience" of using their cloud storage to back up images from my phone and laptop and desktop and... probably sketches I have made on napkins, for all I know.

That's not really the issue... and I'm pretty good at managing my storage space.

The issue is that when I want to manage my cloud storage space so I don't run out of space (and hence, don't have to PAY) Google insists on wanting to erase those files off all my connected devices, as well.

Oh, hells to the no, you don't!

I'm not sure what exactly to call that particular approach... "entrapment ware," perhaps?

Regardless, it makes me really really annoyed.

It makes me think back to the earliest days of cloud storage when skeptics were warning everyone that there was a reality coming in which we would not have any kind of control over our own content.

Of course, I am perfectly aware of the obvious workaround, which is regularly transferring all my files to an unconnected and detachable storage device.

Because storage is actually cheap.

Hence I am uninclined to hand over $4.99 a month to Google for what essentially amounts to not enough storage. All I need is storage enough for my email, not for everything else under the sun!

A bit cluttered...

We probably have somewhere north of 10,000 photos of cats here, and I frankly don't trust some company to not put up some kind of "hostage paywall," pretty much at will.

Yes, I will gladly use cloud storage for all sorts of files and photos, by MY "terms and conditions," which are that when you suddenly try to take my stuff hostage, I can tell you to just Eff Off because I have current copies of everything in local storage.

What worries me, though, is that more and more devices and apps are being configured in such a way that they are very difficult to use with static storage, rather than cloud storage.

And if you actually have "the nerve" to try to pull a file from an unrecognized device, some invasive setting suddenly switches on that device to be "managed" from cloud storage.

I just need you to store my stuff, not mess with it!

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