The data is shrinking before our eyes

Node Operators
23

EU data going down makes sense.
Hetzner launched S3 object storage and their offers are extremely competitive pricing multiple certified DataCenters, and their storage solutions for backups are not that bad, also they are doing loads of publicity and being really strong about it.

Sure it’s not “global” has with Storj.

On a personal note, doing backups to storj only because I have tokens, otherwise hetzner is very appealing to my wallet.

I truly like Storj project and I want to succeed, but they need to rethink their satellites being on AWS or GCP, that thing costs an arm, a leg, a kidney and some other body parts.

24

Hetzner’s object storage is maybe useful for cold storage at best for now. People report frequent downtime and lackluster performance:

I wish them well, I’m their customer, and object storage local to compute is very useful; but for the use cases Storj seem to target now, they’re no competition.

1 Like
25

Storj paid data on the public side has grown, but you dont notice due to all the house keeping going on purging free test account data and similar. Now that the majority of this data has been purged, we hopefully will see numbers moving in a positive direction and note that it should all be paid customer data. Minus any trials or temporary contractual storage.

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26

Why not temporarily restrict the creation of new nodes. In this way, old and loyal nodes operators would get at least a little more profit and have an advantage over new members. We have too much free space right now, which was caused by a surge of test data and talk and promises about new big customer. Node operators bought and added a lot of new HDDs from which most of the data was then deleted and now they are operating at a loss.

2 Likes
27

Even so with those issues, if you need backups Hetzner is super competitive, if you need unlimited traffic you can get that with a dedicated server, limitation being high trough-output that most companies don’t need and you can probably do something that you can get away with, but yeah you need to configure some stuff.

Yes storj has no competition for what it does technically and out of the box, issue is companies that need compliance (SOC2, GDPR), home SNO are out of the picture until Storj can get SOC2 certification and that does not fix GDPR, and I don’t know if there are any SOC2 in Europe with storj (Storj says US only), if not Storj for European companies are out of the picture, this whole thing with GDPR and Storj is either a grey area or a huge fine waiting to happen to any EU company.

There are a lot of “if’s” not just “Storj has no competition”, there is a big issue with compliance, EU companies with be on side of caution and with competitive pricing that’s is where they will go to even if it is more work.

28

Old nodes are no better or worse than new ones. If they happen to be holding some data for a month: they get paid for it: that’s their loyalty reward for sticking around :money_mouth_face:. It’s good that nodes can come and go as they please, and that they compete for data.

Node creation is always restricted anyways: by people deciding if it will be worth their time or not. A natural balance!

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29

Storj is more competitive for cold, rarely-retrieved storage accessed across WAN: cheaper while giving geographical spread. So Hetzner would only be a factor if you considered backups of data local to Hetzner, for which Hetzner already has a better solution for a long time anyway.

Not object storage. There are tons of other storage providers that do not offer S3 compatibility and are cheaper than both Hetzner and Storj, so this shouldn’t be a factor here for the observation being discussed.

Hetzner does not have SOC2. They do have ISO 27001, I’m not familiar with the scope of this certification though, and I’m not sure Storj targets now that.

30

The only issue with gdpr could be in using satellites outside eu, where data shortly flows unencrypted.

Companies are not uploading personal or business data to storj, but blobs of ecrypted data nobody knows how to decrypt, except themselves. Do not see how a court could object uploading random bytes anywhere in the world.

2 Likes
31

At no point is data decrypted on the satellite. Satellite does not need to and does not have your encryption key. (The only exception is when you purposfeully provide the key to satellite to see files in the web console – but at this point you already relinquished control of your encryption key and therefore data.)

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32

yea its not about new node creation, but about the nodes that are already there, created, and running with only 500GB space just in case, waiting to be expanded on full 16TB disks or so. The total free space added is Your “enemy”, as a SNO, lol.

33

Dear Storjlings,

I hope this message finds you well. I am writing to express my gratitude for the time we have spent together on this project and to share some reflections as I prepare to move forward.

It has been a privilege to be part of this journey for the past 72 months. During these years, I have learned so much – both in the good times and during challenging periods. Every experience, whether it brought joy or hardship, has contributed to my growth and understanding. I am deeply thankful for the lessons we have shared along the way.

However, as time has passed, I have come to realize that my role within this project no longer aligns with my aspirations and well-being. It feels almost like the metaphor of the “slow boiling frog” – gradually becoming acclimatized to a situation that, over time, has become less fulfilling. The diminishing returns, with an average of just 1.5 dollars per TB and price increases making it no longer worthwhile (often amounting to little more than a penny shift), have made me reflect on what truly matters for my personal and professional journey.

Additionally, I have observed that the market situation has changed significantly, particularly due to the “Select” network and increasing competition from providers like Hetzner, Wasabi, and Backblaze. This has made me question the long-term viability of pursuing this path in the public network. It seems that companies are increasingly prioritizing stability over innovation, while tech-savvy individuals are taking matters into their own hands, setting up their own solutions. As a result, I see less sense in continuing down this road for myself.

While I will always cherish the memories and the skills I’ve gained during these years, it is now time for me to seek new opportunities that better align with my goals and passions. I hope you understand my decision and wish you continued success in your endeavors.

Thank you once again for the experiences we have shared. Wishing you all the best!

15 Likes
34

Thank you for your participation!
Perhaps we would see you again, if you would have an online hardware which would have a room to also run a node.

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35

Thank you for being a valuable member of the SNO community @nano !

You will be missed and your contributions will live on in the Forum to help others.
You are always welcome back should your alignments realign.
Wishing you all the best with your new endeavors !

4 Likes
36

TL:DR - You can’t with private information, unless the private user CLEARLY agrees to it.

I don’t think you know how GDPR works.

EU satellite does not mean European Union only countries it means Europe though, two slightly different things, and I have seen plenty of posts of people using VPN to circumvent geoblocking.

With GDPR clearly states, even encrypted personal data, has to be in the EU (has in European Union) or in countries that have SCC

and the provider of said backups service needs to be under GDPR has well,

OR unless it is clearly stated and informed to the private user that it can be transffered outside of the EU to a partner for backups
But any transfer outside of the EU without either of these is a guaranteed fine.

As far as I can tell, there are no other exceptions.

There has been several cases of these, even backups with encryption, the moment it got out the European Union and they found out, it was hefty fine.

Even if I did double encryption, meaning I encrypted first and than transfer to storj and there goes another round of encryption it would not be under the GDPR, now for what I understand Storj cannot guarantee that the data will be under GDPR jurisdiction, technically this is impossible, it’s not how Storj works with the independent node operators.

But this is not an isolated issue, i.e. Google had a hell of an big issue, because US law states or at least stated that any US company has to give away data that they request no matter on what country the data is residing, GDPR prevents that…
that was until 2023 the US and the EU now have DPF agreement and that is another rollercoster of legal complexity, that I need to understand.
https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/Program-Overview

1 Like
37

you can ask, geofeaturing from storj.

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38

Storj cant give it evnen if they want, without encryption key that know only client it useless

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39

Storj offers geofencing to EU as well as several other regions, which can be requested using this form.
Note that we will also soon have available Storj Select EU regions for those needing guaranteed storage of their data in compliant facilities (ISO 27001 or SOC2.)

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40

It may be a good time to market EU geofencing. Not only because of current political sentiments… but because some new competition is specifically selling to those who want guarantees about their data staying in Europe. Potential customers need to know Storj is an option.

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41

Rest assured that our sales staff is making potential customers aware of the best available options for each use case.

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42

And how does Storj counters VPN?