As privacy concerns grow, people are turning to personal clouds

One thing that America's NSA scandal taught not only trend watchers, but everyone, is that everything we store on cloud-based servers can be accessed by a third party. Companies like Amazon, Google and Microsoft are reeling from revelations that many of the largest computing and telecommunications firms either provided "back doors" for government spying, or were otherwise compromised so that their users' data was less secure then their customers thought. Many companies and individuals are reacting by not putting their sensitive information on public cloud storage services. One alternative is to use a private cloud, that is not in the public domain. Of course, having a personal cloud doesn't mean it is secure from prying outsiders, but it offers an extra layer of comfort to those who have lost trust in the big guys. My Cloud by Western Digital is one such easy place to organize, centralize and store and retrieve digital content from computers and mobile devices. Simply connect it to the Internet for seamless backup connectivity, without having to pay monthly fees. Personal cloud storage also lets users share files, stream media and access content anywhere. The 4 TB My Cloud is expected to be available in November and sell for under $150.