One of the parts of using those free cloud apps is those who run the service can spy on you and even cut you off. This has occurred with the Hong Kong protesters and their choice of using Firechat which allows communication to others without internet access.
Hong Kong protestors use FireChat to text without cell service
Hong Kong protestors are using FireChar, a mobile messaging app, to communicate without using cellular or Internet service. Pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong downloaded the app 100,000 times in just one day.
OCTOBER 1, 2014
What do the protests in Hong Kong and the festival Burning Man have in common? FireChat.
Protestors in Hong Kong are using the messaging app FireChat to communicate without using cellular or Internet service.
Venturebeat has a guest post suggesting there will be more services that skip the cloud to support those who want to be private.
In 2015, popular online social networks will be reduced to serving for social branding, and a next generation of apps using peer-to-peer networking instead of cloud computing will be used for texting and image and video sharing.
The exodus from popular social networks will be accelerated by increasing revelations of both the storing and monitoring of personal communications by the government, and experimentation on users of social networks for the financial benefit of third parties. The exodus, like most all technological trends, will be led by the young and the tech-savvy, and the rest of the worlds’ users will slowly follow as technology inevitably spreads.
What do the protests in Hong Kong and the festival Burning Man have in common? FireChat.
Protestors in Hong Kong are using the messaging app FireChat to communicate without using cellular or Internet service.