Gobbler - can anyone explain this to me please?

 
As Gobbler is integrated into the X3 Control bar, I decided to install it on my PC to see how useful it might prove.
 
But to be honest, I'm not really sure what else it does once it's installed on your PC.
 
For example, earlier today I downloaded some Rig Profiles for my Kemper. The only way to transfer these files from my computer to the Kemper is to load them up on a USB flash drive.
 
However, when I opened the flash drive in Computer to copy over the profiles, I noticed a 'hidden' folder had appeared (I have my Folders options set not to hide 'hidden' folders).
 
This .gobbler folder was created, without any prompt or warning, once the drive was inserted. To check this, I deleted the folder, then unplugged and re-inserted the drive, and the folder was created again.
 
Inside the folder is a .mam-vol-guid-1 file.
 

 
 
Does anyone know what this file is for, and how I can stop Gobbler creating them?
 
 

I don't see how you can turn it off, and frankly, it's going to be a show stopper for me.
 
I was only halfway into Gobbler. I was open to giving it a try... but having those hidden folders created everywhere isn't going to be ok for me. Frankly, having 3rd party software monitoring activity on my computer isn't ok.

Most likely, that hidden data file is used to note the synchronization status between the cloud and the drive; in this case, a memory stick. Even Dropbox does this. There's nothing sinister about it - you ought to see the number of .something files that can be found on a Linux box.

Further, I can't find a way to delete the projects I've uploaded to Gobbler by logging into their website or using the installed Gobbler tool.

I'll still post whether we have a reasonable expectation of privacy when I get the response from support, but I found this on Gobbler's site. I also found that the hidden .gobbler folders were not at every level. They seem to have been arbitrarily created at root levels on my machine and contain guids. There is a Folder Structure item in the Gobbler control that can be disabled.
 
https://www.gobbler.com/features
 
                Security & Privacy              

Gobbler takes your security and privacy very seriously

• All transmission of file data and metadata occurs over an encrypted channel.
• Files stored on the cloud server are 256-bit AES encrypted.
• No users can access your files unless you choose to share with them.
• Gobbler uses Amazon S3, your data is distributed over several large-scale data centers.
• Amazon uses military grade perimeter control berms, video surveillance, and professional security staff to keep their data centers physically secure.
• Amazon S3 provides protection against network security interference such as packet sniffing, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks and Man in the Middle (MITM) attacks.

[This letter was the response I received from Gobbler Support]
 
Hi Geoff,
 
Your expectations of privacy are certainly reasonable, and we should be in line with those expectations.
 
If you sent files/projects to someone, we would not have captured any extra data, or written files to your drives other than some temp files for compression/encryption on your system drive. Those temp files are deleted when the upload is completed.
 
If you backed these three projects up to the Gobbler cloud, then Gobbler had to scan one or more of your drives before they could be backed up. This process is very straightforward: When you click the Scan button (and not before!), Gobbler scans the selected drive. looking specifically for DAW files (.ptx, .logic, etc.). Gobbler then saves a list of those DAW files and the related sub-folders where the supporting media files are stored. It does this so that as files are added to those folders, Gobbler will know to back them up automatically.
 
Gobbler does not scan your system folder or your applications folder. It does not store information about folders which do not contain DAW files. It does not capture or transmit data about your usage, and it does not scan any drives which you don't tell it to scan yourself.
 
I am not sure if we still write files to your drives, but I will check. At one time, we wrote small databases which contained the info about the DAW files on that drive, but that was all.
 
As for deleting those projects from the Gobbler cloud, that shouldn't be a problem:
 

Open the Gobbler client and click Files in Gobbler on the leftDouble-click one of the projects in the listClick "Remove from Cloud" in the lower right-hand corner 
Please let me know if this doesn't answer your questions, or if you still have concerns.
 
Thanks,
      Gordon
 
Gordon Lyon
VP of Product