What are the trade-offs of storing data in the cloud, and what's the main caution?

Question

Accepted Answer

Convenience and automatic backup come at the cost of data-protection and control concerns — be careful what you put there.

Advantages
Disadvantages

Data available everywhere, on all devices
Most clouds are abroad (data-protection issues)

Automatic backup
Often insufficient protection for sensitive data

Easy sharing with others
Sharing is also a risk (oversharing/leaks)

Terms may claim ownership of your data; data can be misused

The main caution: don't put sensitive data in consumer clouds without understanding where it's stored and how it's protected. For sensitive material, prefer providers with Swiss/EU storage and encryption in transit and at rest (the source lists examples like Swiss providers and encrypted services).
Tip: "The cloud is just someone else's computer." Encrypt sensitive files before uploading, so the provider (and any attacker who breaches them) only ever holds ciphertext.

Advantages	Disadvantages
Data available everywhere, on all devices	Most clouds are abroad (data-protection issues)
Automatic backup	Often insufficient protection for sensitive data
Easy sharing with others	Sharing is also a risk (oversharing/leaks)
	Terms may claim ownership of your data; data can be misused