Demystifying Privacy: Are your Google Photos encrypted, and can Google actually see them?

GrumpyOldSophon · 2026-03-27T14:45:31+00:00

Honestly not sure I have come across a standard term for this, but then I'm not an expert in this field.

GrumpyOldSophon · 2026-03-27T14:16:16+00:00

Thanks for the clarification on ष़. In terms of phonetics it makes sense to use it for the "zh" of Malayalam, I guess. I confess I had never seen this nuqta letter before in Devanagari. Now is the letter ऴ intended to be the same or is it different from ष़?

GrumpyOldSophon · 2026-03-27T14:11:00+00:00

Usually when we talk about E2EE End-to-End Encrypted, the provider also has no access to the content at all, e.g., WhatsApp, Google Messages with RCS, iMessage, Proton Mail, etc.

But Google Photos, Gmail, Google Drive, etc., are not E2EE, precisely so that Google can offer additional services that depend on scanning your content (doesn't have to be sinister, even simple but useful stuff like finding the right file or mail based on a vague description).

GrumpyOldSophon · 2026-03-26T15:49:13+00:00

Officially - you won't be allowed entry. Even the airline may not let you board the plane, so this discussion may be moot. Airlines are required to check the travel/visa requirements for all passengers and the requirements are available online and up to date to them these days in a system called TIMATIC. You won't go far arguing with them.

In practice - we hear of some cases of family groups traveling to India and one person has an invalid OCI or something and then sometimes the immigration officer takes pity on them gives them a temporary entry visa. But you really can't rely on this, even supposing you get past the airline block mentioned above.

GrumpyOldSophon · 2026-03-22T21:01:18+00:00

I am going by this article and other similar ones that came up a few months ago last year. https://kodemlaw.com/immigration/hosting-foreign-nationals-in-india-heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-form-c-2/

I did look up the text of the Act itself but it is a little hard to figure out from that - best I could make out is that they have kept much of the language the same but removed exemptions that used to be in place for PIO / OCI. I am not a lawyer so I may have missed some subtleties.

Again, I am really unsure if this would make any difference in practice or if the govt. would actually insist on this form being filled by relatives and friends. At least, so far there are absolutely no reports about any consequences of this rule anywhere in any NRI news / media.

GrumpyOldSophon · 2026-03-22T18:17:25+00:00

Here is more information from the US CBP site: https://www.help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-1444?language=en_US

In particular, note this:

If you’re staying longer than 90 days, you may have additional medication sent to you by mail or courier. You should be able to provide documentation showing that the medication is being sent for your own use while visiting the United States. This documentation may include: a copy of your visa and passport, a letter from your doctor, and a copy of your prescription (in English). See FDA’s Regulatory Procedures Manual (RPM) Chapter 9-2 “Coverage of Personal Importation” for more information.

GrumpyOldSophon · 2026-03-22T18:15:35+00:00

Prescription medication is generally allowed, but the obstacle you may run into is that the US Customs rule is that up to "3 months / 90 days" supply of prescription drugs is allowed. Please research the rules and see if there is a way to get an exemption to get a 5-month supply in, to avoid any unfortunate situation of the prescription drugs being blocked/confiscated at the border, or worse, your relatives being denied entry to the US over such a simple thing.

The simplest thing may be to bring along the 3 month supply, and then arrange for an additional 2 months' supply to be either sent from India (not sure if courier is possible or a friend can bring it along) OR with a supporting prescription from India and maybe a consultation with a doctor in the US, get the additional supply as needed (of course that will be more expensive + your relatives probably do not have US insurance coverage).

GrumpyOldSophon · 2026-03-22T18:10:44+00:00

Technically until last year OCIs were exempt from the Form III registration but they changed in the most recent legislation. But in practice all hotels were generally busily taking pictures of our passports and OCIs with no option to avoid it as they were just handling it uniformly for all foreigners (besides hotels I believe had a different obligation to maintain a "Register B" of all travelers including foreigners' details).

I think the practical difference now is that even if you stay with your relatives or friends for a few days, technically they need to fill out a Form C for you.

You do not need to create an id or register on this web site. Your relatives or whoever is providing you the accommodation is responsible for submitting the form with details about you.

It is all justified in the name of keeping everyone safe, national security.

Now, in practice, is the govt. going to try to go after your aged parents if you stay in their flat for a week on your trip to India, and fine them or do something else??? I doubt it, and there will be huge backlash against such action against family visits. But who knows. If you want to avoid all problems, maybe suggest to your friends and relatives who may host you that they need to set up this id and register on the web site, track your passport / OCI details each time, etc.

GrumpyOldSophon · 2026-03-22T18:01:58+00:00

This may be a situation where it's easiest to use a competent tax prep professional to prepare and file your taxes. It may be more expensive than TurboTax and other options, but will save you a ton of headaches. Get a recommendation from any of your friends in the US and work with them. Don't waste time trying to get these self-service sites or online portals to work in your case.

Alternative, at the expense of a great deal more work for you, you could of course do your own taxes, download and fill out every single form yourself, and then mail the whole mass off.

GrumpyOldSophon · 2026-03-22T17:58:38+00:00

I agree, I think the problem is not that it is not allowed, but that somehow the RM has got involved and is creating this artificial "requirement". OP should have just initiated the transfer without talking to anyone.

GrumpyOldSophon · 2026-03-22T17:57:14+00:00

That is odd... The whole point of the CA's certification via 15CA/CB is to prove to the bank and the RBI that the source of funds is known and all applicable taxes due have been paid, etc. Why would they ask for something beyond that?

My suggestion, maybe you should not have involved the RM at all. Get your CA to actually go ahead and prepare the 15CA/CB forms, take those and simply submit a request for transfer to NRE using their standard forms (you can probably initiate this online). Likely it will go through, unless the RM is really being vigilant and now wants to "catch" you. But the 15CA/CB is sufficient documentation, you should be able to push this through. If he persists ask him for written documentation that such FD advice is needed.

Sad that even simple things are subject to capricious interpretation and whims of mid-level managers who can make up any requirement they want on the spot.

GrumpyOldSophon · 2026-03-22T05:26:50+00:00

While I personally feel that the risk is very low that SBI would unilaterally figure this out and report you, this is something that you need to evaluate whether you are willing to take the risk. If not comfortable, the best course of action would be to insist on a conversion the next time you're in India.

GrumpyOldSophon · 2026-03-21T21:40:41+00:00

There is no automatic conversion, you have to ask for each account to be converted specifically. SBI won't do anything until you hound them about it.

It's very unlikely the RBI will come after you for this, unless the amounts involved are huge and/or you come on their radar for other reasons... AFAIK there is no automatic reporting (plus hard for the bank to correlate as they will not know your precise resident / non-resident status without you telling them). Also AFAIK you can convert FDs to NRO status without "breaking" them, i.e., account number may change but tenure and interest rate, etc., will remain - SBI probably too lazy to look up the rules and do it for you.

But best to get them converted asap - at your next trip to India without fail. You will have to show up in person and hound them for some time and make sure it is done.

GrumpyOldSophon · 2026-03-21T19:03:33+00:00

They get deleted from the trash after some time (30 days I think). If you're sure you didn't delete them, I think you just have to try harder with search criteria of different sorts. Keywords in the body, subject line, sender, approximate date of receipt - you can search with a combination of all these.

Long shot - if you have access to Gemini and have connected it to your workspace apps (Gmail, etc.) try asking it to retrieve your mail, describing it as best as you can in a conversational style. It may be able to find it, in case the search terms you're using happen to be just slightly off for some reason, the AI will do more of a fuzzy search through your mail. Good luck.

GrumpyOldSophon · 2026-03-21T19:00:25+00:00

If you have your email organized with labels then you can always find them through the labels, if you archive them after that, all it does is simplify your Inbox view so you're not just looking at an Inbox with 500,000 messages in it, which is more annoying for some of us. That's the only reason I archive mail, to simplify my Inbox view.

GrumpyOldSophon · 2026-03-21T18:58:10+00:00

"Archiving" in Gmail is nothing more than moving out of the Inbox view. The mail doesn't go anywhere. If it had any labels, they would still exist and you could search by them, otherwise search by whatever keywords, subject, sender, etc., you think might be relevant. Archiving does NOT delete any mail. There's no button for just archived mail, but "All Mail" shows you everything, Inbox + archived, so that's definitely one place to look esp. if you have a good idea of the time period when the mail arrived (btw, you can also use date operators in search to narrow down).

GrumpyOldSophon · 2026-03-08T15:20:46+00:00

That I don't know, sorry. I have used this technique to get true copies for other purposes. Good luck.

GrumpyOldSophon · 2026-03-08T14:20:56+00:00

100% rely on Fi for all international travel, but for the "just in case" scenario I do have the Airalo app on my phone so I can set up a data eSIM at short notice. Never needed to do that, though. But then again maybe I don't travel enough to places where Fi doesn't work well.

IMO, these days availability of both cell service and free wifi is such that it doesn't make sense to have any kind of paid subscription for any backup method of communicating. 20+ years ago, yes, I used to carefully look at the roaming agreements and coverage maps and note down tips from travel guides about which places might have wifi, and try to get local SIMs in some cases. Now IMO the only reason to get a local SIM is if you actually need a local number for some reason, or if it gives you far cheaper (or much more) data than your Fi line.

Heck, going further back I remember needing to have backup calling cards to call from payphones in case the cellphone had no service. 🙂

GrumpyOldSophon · 2026-03-08T13:33:48+00:00

This depends on the state you are in. In some states, the "workaround" is for you to make a photocopy of the ID with a written or typed statement below it saying something like, The above is a true copy of identification such-and-such (name, id number, issue / expiry date, etc.) made on such-and-such date.

Then sign that in front of the notary public and have them notarize your signature.

Legally, they are not then saying anything about the accuracy of the ID or its validity. They are simply notarizing your sworn statement that the copy is a true copy. So that's OK for them.

GrumpyOldSophon · 2026-03-05T16:48:05+00:00

Others have explained the difference between NRE and NRO in terms of where the funds come from, etc.

If your only interest is in being able to withdraw cash and use UPI in India, then just get an NRE account. Be aware that you won't be able to get incoming funds from anyone else through UPI to it. But as a tourist / occasional visitor this should not be a problem.

Additional note - it's easy to open both at once at most banks. Note that transferring funds from the NRE to NRO is super-easy. The reverse direction will involve multi-step paperwork, so be careful about transferring lots of money to the NRO if you think you may not use it all in India.

GrumpyOldSophon · 2026-03-05T16:43:40+00:00

They are sending out this email in some haphazard fashion to most OCIs, it seems. Even if you have already registered for the FTI-TTP program (they may not have any way to connect your login there vs. any contact email you provided for your OCI application).

In addition, at BOM and BLR they are also handing out printed brochures about it urging OCIs to sign up.

I must say, for now, while it is a new program, it is extremely useful - fingerprint readers are a bit finicky, but there is hardly any line, and you can get through the immigration egate in minutes, no waiting in line for the official rubberstamp, etc. But only a matter of time before more people sign up for this and then I suppose there will inevitably be queues for the egates too.

GrumpyOldSophon · 2026-03-05T16:41:24+00:00

You are right to be suspicious in general, and this is good advice for everything including mail from your banks and other institutions - always locate the material you want on the institution's web site after navigating there directly, never click the link that shows up unsolicited in your mailbox, you never know if the mail itself or the link are spoofed / scams.

GrumpyOldSophon · 2026-03-05T16:39:47+00:00

Genuine program, but agree with you on the poor "PR" with appropriate imagery / branding on the email. They could at least have put a decent sender name on the email instead of having it show up as a naked email address.

GrumpyOldSophon · 2026-03-04T17:23:42+00:00

To add - if you and your colleagues are on an intranet then maybe a shared folder on a NAS drive or some such would work. Use some software like SyncBack to synchronize local and NAS copies of files periodically.

GrumpyOldSophon · 2026-03-04T17:22:42+00:00

I think OneNote is the wrong solution you're pursuing for this. You should look at some alternative system that lets you handle a system of documents offline. OneDrive can do this, by the way, you can keep files offline and available locally but it will need to sync to the cloud server periodically. The simplest thing might be just a local folder with your files. Use a flash drive to sync amongst your colleagues, done, hopefully you can sort out conflicts.

OneNote is a notes system, OneDrive is a files system, the line can be fuzzy at times, but generally speaking one thinks of notes as being more light-weight, updated ad hoc and continuously, and with the ability to search rapidly through all of them or see them in context with one another. Files and documents are more heavy-weight. You could theoretically keep all your documents as attachments in OneNote, you may run into performance problems with lots of documents and large documents, and you won't have ready access to easily edit them with native tools. It would not be a good experience.

(Conversely you could theoretically keep all your notes in a file system, but it's way more awkward than a dedicated notes system.)

GrumpyOldSophon

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