In January, I made a New Year’s resolution: To write more regularly in a diary.
My inspiration came from Anaïs Nin, my favorite writer and a prolific diarist who kept a daily journal from age 11 until her death at age 74. “Keeping a diary all my life helped me to discover some basic elements essential to the vitality of writing,” she once said. “In the Diary I only wrote of what interested me genuinely, what I felt most strongly at the moment, and I found this fervor, this enthusiasm produced a vividness which often withered in the formal work.”
I loved this idea, but writing in a physical journal fills me with dread. As an obnoxious millennial stereotype, I do the majority of my daily writing on the computer. I’ve written approximately four checks in my life, and I rarely write letters. Why would I move backwards into analog for my daily journaling practice?
‘I’ve written approximately four checks in my life, and I rarely write letters. Why would I move backwards into analog for my daily journaling practice?’
Over the past few months, I’ve started collecting stray thoughts in the notes app on my phone and in longer documents in my personal Gmail and Google Docs GOOG, -1.23% I did this hesitantly. As much as I liked the convenience of a digital journal, the idea of pouring my most private thoughts into Google’s massive data trove gave me anxiety.
The company can access and analyze any content kept on its platform, according to its privacy policy. The policy also suggests it uses both automated systems and humans to analyze your content, meaning that people could literally be reading my diary. A Google spokesman said that the company does not technically read users’ files, but instead uses an automated system of pattern matching to scan for “indicators of abuse.” But it only does that for documents shared with other people on Google Drive, not private Google documents, he said. Though the system can identify clusters of data that might suggest a violation of Google’s terms of service, the system does not pull meaning from the content, according to a company spokesman.
Then I discovered Cryptee, an encrypted digital center for photos, files, documents, and notes. The service runs on your browser, just like Google Docs, and is free for the first 100 megabytes. After that it is $3 per month for each additional 10 gigabyte.
Founded by software developer John Ozbay 18 months ago, the program uses “military-grade” encryption to keep all files private. Not even the company itself can see your data. Only the user, the person who holds the encryption key (your password) can see what is saved with Cryptee.
Ozbay said he first came up with the idea while living as an immigrant in the U.S. when a series of data privacy scandals got him feeling like a “tin foil hat guy,” getting increasingly paranoid about how much information companies and the government hold on us.
He moved to Estonia, in part because of its strong privacy laws, and started the business with his own savings. In June he advertised Cryptee in a Reddit post and got 20,000 users overnight. He said, “There are no easy alternatives if you want to keep your data secure.”
Is Google the worst place to keep a diary?
Google’s privacy policy makes Google Docs “the worst imaginable place to keep a journal or diary,” according to Mark Weinstein, privacy advocate and founder of social media platform MeWe. “As humans, we keep our deeply private thoughts and secrets in our personal journals and diaries,” he said. “If you keep these on Google, beware — your thoughts are not private at all.”
Google did not reply to request for comment, but its privacy policy notes that it restricts access to “Google employees, contractors, and agents” who process the information for their jobs. “Anyone with this access is subject to strict contractual confidentiality obligations and may be disciplined or terminated if they fail to meet these obligations,” the policy reads.
The data may then be used to create customized search results, personalized ads, and other features. Writing about intimate emotional details makes this prospect more alarming. Facebook FB, -2.37% apologized after the social network allowed third-party app Cambridge Analytica to manipulate users news feed and influence political campaigns.
Google customizes search results based on data collected from its services. “We use automated systems that analyze your content to provide you with things like customized search results, personalized ads, or other features tailored to how you use our services,” the privacy policy reads.
Alternatives to Google
Evernote, a note-taking app, does not automatically encrypt data in notes. Users, however, can encrypt certain sections by right clicking within the Mac or Windows app for Evernote and selecting “encrypt selected text.”
Evernote is $3.99 per month for a basic subscription, which includes 60 megabytes of uploads per month. A premium subscription, which adds 10 gigabytes of new downloads per month, is $7.99. (Evernote did not respond to request for comment).
Cryptee isn’t the only privacy-minded documents app. Turtl is a private platform built with a similar mission. It is currently free to use and, like Cryptee, it does not store user passwords or information and is protected by both your password and your cryptographic key. It is available on Windows, Mac, and Android, but not iOS.
For a simple, browser-based encrypted app, Protected Text offers simple note-taking features. To use it, go to ProtectedText.com and create a password to protect it if it isn’t claimed yet.
Safety from government eyes
Apple AAPL, -1.24% stores data on its iCloud, which means the company can turn over your data to the FBI if investigators ask for it, which it did in February 2016 to comply with an investigation being carried out by the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding a mass shooting in San Bernadino, California.
Because Cryptee does not store any unencrypted data, it cannot be asked to give it to state entities. In other words, there is no way for anyone — the government, Cryptee, or advertisers — to read what is kept in your journal. It uses Advanced Encryption System 256 (AES256), the most popular unbroken encryption system used today.
Being based in Estonia puts Cryptee outside the “14 eyes jurisdiction,” an international surveillance alliance of European Union and North American countries, making it less likely it will be targeted with demands for data.
For super-secret documents, Cryptee offers “ghost folders,” which allows you to make a folder disappear from your account so that it can only be opened by typing its name exactly into the search bar. So even if you are forced to give a third party the keys to your account, your most sensitive data will still be safe, Ozbay said.
Cryptee is a browser-based system like Google Docs and is not available in the iOS App Store, but can be used on the home page of iOS and Android devices. Ozbay said he did this so there would be no evidence of the app ever being downloaded from the App Store. Deleting it from your home screen erases any trace you ever used it.
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