Reflections on Logseq and Data Security, Convenience, and Privacy#
Reflections Triggered by Data Loss#
I just spent a lot of time writing something in logseq, and it was lost due to a lag. Suddenly, I realized that something used to record my life, almost every time I open it, I record my inspiration or immediate thoughts. How can it be so uncertain and insecure? The uncertainty and instability brought about by this loss make me feel very insecure. It's like preparing all the stationery the day before the exam, but on the day of the exam, the pen that worked well suddenly can't write or breaks.
I think it is very difficult to understand and should not happen that a fatal data loss issue occurs when the software development is about to release the official version, and users have already accumulated a certain amount of products in the early stage. Of course, I don't mean to blame the Logseq developers. I can proudly say that this software has grown step by step under my watchful eyes. I have a deep emotional attachment to it. When I first learned about it, the development team only had the founder @tiensonqin alone. He posted a promotional post on Zhihu, and I joined Logseq at this time. At that time, there were hardly any articles or videos about Logseq on the Internet, so I posted the first post about Logseq on Coolapk, started the topic of Logseq, and introduced and promoted this product.
At that time, I was obsessed with various note-taking software and comparisons. I was tireless in trying out this kind of software. I have downloaded and experienced almost all the mainstream apps on the market. In the end, I have left Obsidian, Logseq, Notion, and Dynalist, as well as Feishu Docs and Yuque, each with occasional different use cases, also on the backup list. As I mentioned in my previous writings, these software may seem very diverse and miscellaneous, but so far, I have classified and sorted out different usage scenarios and purposes for them. I think the current classification is basically scientific and reasonable. These are the products I have selected after careful consideration, and they are all excellent tools in my opinion. I hope I can create some valuable content through them, which may be valuable to others or simply for myself.
Returning to Logseq, first of all, the software is still in the unofficial version, so having bugs is normal, and so far I haven't paid a penny for it. I know very well that developing a product, especially such a product, is not easy, so I am more tolerant and understanding. Secondly, I believe that my attempt and judgment two years ago were correct. I have integrated my understanding and summary of note-taking software into it. Similarly, Logseq has incorporated the advantages of many excellent products on the market. There is no doubt that Logseq will be a very promising product. It has great ideas and visions, a loyal user base, a good reputation, and a high-quality community. It has investors with vision and strength. Its future is definitely bright, and I hope its future is bright because I am a loyal user of it.
As you can see, Logseq combines many advantages of many software on the market. It is powerful and versatile. The files are stored locally, so theoretically it is secure enough.
But is self-hosting data safe?#
Not necessarily. The following words are not written solely because of Logseq, but are written in response to the views of those who believe that self-hosting data is safe. I have seen too many people blowing their own horns. The software itself is open source, and storing content locally is indeed privacy-friendly. But is it safe to store files locally and unsafe to store them on cloud servers? What if the hard drive fails? Storage-based products, open source can only guarantee privacy issues, and security is always a relative concept.
I have always believed that privacy, security, and convenience are things we pursue at the same time, but to some extent, this pursuit is unscientific because, like other opposing things in the world, they cannot be achieved at the same time in a strict sense. When you seek convenience, you inevitably have to give up some privacy, and when you always prioritize privacy, you have to endure certain inconveniences and complexities.
In my understanding and experience, I think the physical medium of a personal computer's hard drive is not necessarily reliable. In personal computers, most people's disks are not backed up or disaster-tolerant, which means that if certain special circumstances occur, such as irreversible physical damage to the hard drive, anything stored in the computer's disk will be at risk of loss due to the lack of disaster tolerance. This kind of accident is unpredictable and is also a reason why I am concerned about physical storage. The only scenario where I think I would use a portable hard drive or physical hard drive is when the transmission speed of the physical hard drive is faster than downloading and transferring online. For me, this is the only advantage, and I have no other reason to use physical media and take the risk of possible damage.
How to store content more securely?#
After talking about physical media, let's talk about the method I prefer. First of all, I want to clarify that my pursuit of privacy is not extreme. I don't have anything important enough to be stored in physical media. Even if there are highly important contents, I will make multiple backups on different cloud drives, as mentioned above. Therefore, I prefer and recommend the storage method that is suitable for ordinary people, which is cloud storage. Because I believe that compared to my own computer hard drive and portable hard drive, cloud service providers and their corresponding companies are more capable of providing us with secure and painless content storage services. Even if personal backups and disaster recovery are done well, they will not be stronger than big companies like Microsoft and Google. In addition, considering the user experience, I think choosing a cloud storage service that you trust is the solution for ordinary people, assuming that privacy is placed lower than data security.
Although the term "cloud storage" consists of only two words, there are differences. Depending on the importance of the file content, we can store the content in different cloud drives. For example, in my case, the documents and files related to my graduation project should be the most important things for me. I will store them in Dropbox, OneDrive, and Joplin Cloud. If the files happen to be opened in WPS, they will also be automatically synchronized by WPS cloud service. At the same time, I will back them up in a local backup folder. This is the highest level of content backup. In addition, the album content is of secondary importance. For image backup, I choose OneDrive automatic backup and Google Photos, supplemented by automatic backup in Alibaba Cloud Drive, which is still a triple backup. The storage of entertainment content and video resources is the next level. Here, I choose Alibaba Cloud Drive, only Alibaba Cloud Drive. At this point, I no longer deliberately pursue the security of file storage. The content is sourced from the internet, and after storing some content, I may not even open it. Occasionally, I watch movies and videos. Even if the files are lost due to poor operation or service quality of the provider Alibaba Cloud (although the probability is very, very small), I will not be too upset because the cost of this storage itself is relatively low, and the value of the content is not as high as the previous two. Overall, the importance is low, so the time, effort, and money spent are the lowest.
In addition to data security, many times we may also pursue convenience. For example, portable hard drives need to be plugged and unplugged, while cloud services can automatically synchronize. In this aspect, the two have different advantages and disadvantages.
In summary, choosing the right cloud service product is a safer and more reliable choice than storing data separately in local or physical media. This choice is based on the consideration of data security. Therefore, after configuring it properly, it can guarantee security and reliability under high availability, not privacy. When we need a higher level of privacy, self-hosting and physical storage are the best solutions, preferably storage methods that do not require internet connection, the more primitive, the safer. At this point, we are actually constantly confirming the previous conclusion, that convenience, security, and privacy are actually mutually exclusive, or at least in relative conflict. The weight of each depends on the data owner's own assessment.