You need to own your creative workflow. They call it your account. Your files. Your work.
But if you ever stop paying, stop agreeing, or stop clicking “Accept,” they’ll show you exactly who it really belongs to.
It’s not you.
The Lie of Convenience
You didn’t choose Google Docs because you love Terms of Service updates. You chose it because it was already there. Just like Dropbox. Just like Adobe.
They’re the default.
But defaults have strings. And the deeper you embed your creative process into their cloud, the less control you actually have.
- Google scans your content “to improve services.” Translation: to train models and target ads.
- Adobe inserts DRM into your files and can lock you out remotely.
- Dropbox has cooperated with law enforcement without warrants and has a history of security breaches.
They offer convenience. You give up ownership.
What’s Actually Happening Behind the Scenes?
When you use these tools:
- You don’t own the infrastructure. They can pull the plug at any time.
- You don’t control access. They do. They log every move you make.
- Your files aren’t private. Terms allow automated scanning, and in some cases, manual review.
This isn’t fearmongering. It’s documented policy.
You clicked “Yes” to all of it.
You’re Not Paranoid. You’re Observant.
Still think you’re in control?
Try exporting all your Google Docs in a usable format.
Try opening a Photoshop file without a paid subscription.
Try finding out who accessed your Dropbox folder last week.
You won’t get far.
And even if you do, it’s too late. The metadata’s already theirs. The history’s logged. The algorithm has learned from it.
Refuse the default.
Claw Back Control: A 5-Step Checklist
1. Audit your creative tools.
List every tool you use to write, design, edit, and share. Note who owns them and where your data lives. Put a star next to any that if it disappeared tomorrow you’d be hosed.
2. Ditch cloud first tools.
Replace Google Docs with Obsidian or CryptPad. Use a text editor or LibreOffice offline. Write in Markdown. Save local. Backup encrypted.
3. Encrypt your assets.
Before syncing or sharing, encrypt. Picocrypt for simple drag-and-drop. VeraCrypt for whole project folders. Clients don’t need to know, just send them the password in person or via a separate channel.
4. Own your sync.
Rclone to copy your folders to your own infrastructure. Syncthing to stay synced between machines. Nextcloud is a easy way for to cloud and you can even run it on a spare hard drive on your desktop.
5. Reclaim your delivery.
Stop sending links from Google Drive or Dropbox. Use Wormhole, OnionShare, or password-protected zip files. Short, disposable. Nothing tracked.
The Price of “Free”
They’re not giving you these tools out of generosity.
You’re the product. Or worse: the unpaid labor.
Every document you write. Every photo you edit. Every project you sync. It’s fuel for someone else’s machine. A machine you don’t control. One that could cut you off tomorrow without explanation.
And then what?
You lose access. You lose trust. You lose time.
Sometimes, you lose clients.
You Have a Choice Now
You can keep feeding the system that tracks, scans, and owns your workflow.
Or you can start building your own.
Not perfect. Just better.
Claw it back.
-GHOST
Written by GHOST, creator of the Untraceable Digital Dissident project.
This is part of the Untraceable Digital Dissident series — tactical privacy for creators and rebels.
Explore more privacy tactics at untraceabledigitaldissident.com.
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