Dropbox, though, doesn't make any claims to your content after you stop doing business with it.

Another provision in the Dropbox agreement notes that "aside from the rare exceptions we identify in our Privacy Policy, no matter how the Services change, we won't share your content with others, including law enforcement, for any purpose unless you direct us to."

Among the exceptions in Dropbox's are details of how Dropbox will comply with law enforcement requests to peek at your stuff. It will make such disclosures to:

When files are , the privacy policy explains, Dropbox will remove its decryption from them. If you encrypt your files before you upload them to Dropbox, then the law enforcement agency would have to ask you to decrypt them.

Storing some of your digital treasures in the cloud can be convenient and give you a sense of security. You just have to remember that you lose a measure of control over your content when you put it there--even if your storage provider cedes total ownership of it to you.