I always wonder at this and have cautioned my managers repeatedly. Yes, we have a contract, but they have a literal army of lawyers and we have less (one lawyer one retainer for hourly work or a small grouping focused on taxes and employment law). As if our ownership won't bend over backwards to avoid suing a large company like Google, AWS, Microsoft, or Oracle. (Maybe OpenAI and Anthropic are sue-able by a $100 million corp?)

As proof I offer the lawsuits between businesses that have proceeded far enough the general public has heard about them. Not a specific one, just all of them.

[–] nogooduser@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You have to trust the contract.

If you use Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace etc then they already have all your data anyway. Most businesses have to trust other companies and the contract at some point.

The only other option is to use Open Source self hosted everything which is beyond most people’s ability.

[–] MNByChoice@midwest.social 1 points 6 hours ago

There are more options than the two you mentioned. Listing a few as more people should remember them. I did get a bit off topic....

Use huge company to provide service.
Provide service oneself (, likely with Open Source. )
Use small or medium company to provide service (, likely with Open Source. )
Use huge company for things huge company is great with, but keep "crown jewels" of company on internal self provided systems.
Use a small or medium company to provide a service, and another series of small or medium companies to check on the first company.
Use a huge company based in a country that is very serious about laws and putting CEOs in prison for wrongful acts.
Do not do the thing. (Included for completeness.)
Do the thing not on a computer. (Violation of privacy could result in violation of more serious laws.)
Use an older technology on a computer.
Use the huge company to provide service, but ensure the data includes insane things.