How can I make sure my data is save?

Hottub said:

Everything is encrypted and available by sign in only.
Make sure you have a cryptic password and be sure to change it once in a while.

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It depends what sites you are using. Some will be very secure, others not so much. Just like you would check to see a site is using SSL before entering your credit card details, apply the same caution to selecting a cloud site to keep your data. There are plenty of providers to choose from, and you can pick more than 1 (eg flikr for photos, amazon for music and Google docs for documents). One of the benefits of using the cloud is it makes it easier to share your stuff with others, but check that the sites you use have the right level of security and privacy controls for what you want before uploading valuable files. It is important to take the time to learn how these work too, so that you don't inadvertently make sensitive files public.*

Interestingly, personal data protection laws are stronger in Europe than the US. Some US companies such as Amazon have voluntarily signed up to the "safeharbor" US standard which offers similar protection, in an attempt to woo European business customers. You can look out for this, but it is probably more relavent for corporate systems.

*facebook is a nightmare for this. They regularly change how their controls work, and the default settings expose lots of your data to friends of friends. You only need 1 friend with a load of mafia wars or farmville buddies and that means it is effectively public. Most other cloud sites are much, much more responsible.