On July 16, 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that none of the American companies that store personal data of European Union citizens adhere to European rules and laws for the protection of and European Citizens’ data exchange (GDPR).

That said, all the efforts of giant corporations in the field of technology to persuade for internal use of this data fall short. This decision implies that all companies that offer cloud space such as Google Drive, Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, IDrive, Apple iCloud Drive not only have access to the data that users upload (!!) but also do not guarantee that this data does not have been exchanged or will be exchanged with third parties for any purpose of the respective companies!

Any file you have ever uploaded to any service that falls under the jurisdiction of the United States to guarantee the privacy and ownership of the data in question no longer belongs to you. Any personal photo, official document or work document that you have uploaded to one of these services no longer belongs to you and there is nothing you can do about it. The content of every private message you send through platforms owned by such companies (such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram Direct) belongs to these companies.

The use of open source technologies ensures that the algorithm does nothing but the functions it initially promised. Also, you are the sole owner of your data. For every service offered by these corporations, there is an open source code equivalent for personal or business use.

Below is the official announcement of NOYB – European Center for Digital Rights, a non-profit organization based in Vienna, Austria founded by Max Schrems to monitor digital rights issues in the European Union.