Unless, of course, he violated their terms of service which he agreed to and which state this is the consequence of violating the terms of service.
Google, like Facebook, has an effective society wide monopoly in plenty of areas. There are many professions where being without one or the other could exclude you almost completely because jobs and other opportunities mostly get advertised via closed Facebook groups or information is distributed via Google spreadsheets. If you can't access those then you can lose your work. Once you get to that level of power it's not good enough to have a process like this without a clear and open appeal system and peop
The only thing Google has a monopoly on is web search, and even then it's not really a monopoly. And you can use Google web search for free. Google has gmail, but many other places offer mail with better features and support also for free. Google wants you to use an account for your android phone, but it is not the only phone out there and you can always just create a new account or root the phone.
A lot of companies use the G-Suite. A LOT OF COMPANIES.
No more Google account can mean no company email, no access to shared docs, no video chat, no calendar, no access to the printer, etc.
For a personal account, if they paid for any movies, music, games, etc., that money's gone. Poof. No recourse. If that's the email address they used to sign into other services, poof!, no recovery for forgotten passwords. If they logged in through a Google federated login, poof!, no more access to various servicesâ"including ones you may be paying for!
If someone legitimately abused their service, I could see a rationale. But Google isn't even telling folks what they did to get banned. No examples of defamatory emails. No records of access from IPs across the world. No specific clause in the ToS that was violated. Just "there was a bad thing, bye."
If you are employed by or have to use the services of a company that uses Google then Google has a local monopoly on the data of that company. There's almost no chance that company will move to another provider. This is fairly standard IT "lock in". Imagine the school your kids go to uses Google for distributing information.
It's not the same and each individual case is not as damaging to society as a whole as a whole monopoly over a market segment but, taken all over it builds up to the same effect.
No more Google account can mean no company email, no access to shared docs, no video chat, no calendar, no access to the printer, etc.
Corp and personal accounts are... different accounts. If the perp's corporate G-suite account was disabled then they should call their IT dept and get it fixed, not whine to the internet about it.
In Google's particular case, yes. Facebook, for example, insists on real name accounts directly linked to individuals and there are plenty of companies like that. Also, since Google knows so much about you, there's nothing except their own good will stopping them from banning you from all accounts.
There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom.
-- Robert Millikan, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1923
The Price You Pay (Score:5, Informative)
Sure, the pricing is attractive but what's the catch?
Re: (Score:2)
wrong.
If he was a paying customer he can sue for damages.
the catch for google is they have legal responsibilities.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
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Unless, of course, he violated their terms of service which he agreed to and which state this is the consequence of violating the terms of service.
Google, like Facebook, has an effective society wide monopoly in plenty of areas. There are many professions where being without one or the other could exclude you almost completely because jobs and other opportunities mostly get advertised via closed Facebook groups or information is distributed via Google spreadsheets. If you can't access those then you can lose your work. Once you get to that level of power it's not good enough to have a process like this without a clear and open appeal system and peop
Re: (Score:2)
The only thing Google has a monopoly on is web search, and even then it's not really a monopoly. And you can use Google web search for free. Google has gmail, but many other places offer mail with better features and support also for free. Google wants you to use an account for your android phone, but it is not the only phone out there and you can always just create a new account or root the phone.
Re: The Price You Pay (Score:4, Informative)
A lot of companies use the G-Suite. A LOT OF COMPANIES.
No more Google account can mean no company email, no access to shared docs, no video chat, no calendar, no access to the printer, etc.
For a personal account, if they paid for any movies, music, games, etc., that money's gone. Poof. No recourse. If that's the email address they used to sign into other services, poof!, no recovery for forgotten passwords. If they logged in through a Google federated login, poof!, no more access to various servicesâ"including ones you may be paying for!
If someone legitimately abused their service, I could see a rationale. But Google isn't even telling folks what they did to get banned. No examples of defamatory emails. No records of access from IPs across the world. No specific clause in the ToS that was violated. Just "there was a bad thing, bye."
It's not "just search."
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Yes but "a lot" is not a monopoly.
Re: (Score:3)
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If you are employed by or have to use the services of a company that uses Google then Google has a local monopoly on the data of that company. There's almost no chance that company will move to another provider. This is fairly standard IT "lock in". Imagine the school your kids go to uses Google for distributing information.
It's not the same and each individual case is not as damaging to society as a whole as a whole monopoly over a market segment but, taken all over it builds up to the same effect.
Re: (Score:2)
No more Google account can mean no company email, no access to shared docs, no video chat, no calendar, no access to the printer, etc.
Corp and personal accounts are... different accounts. If the perp's corporate G-suite account was disabled then they should call their IT dept and get it fixed, not whine to the internet about it.
Re: (Score:2)
In Google's particular case, yes. Facebook, for example, insists on real name accounts directly linked to individuals and there are plenty of companies like that. Also, since Google knows so much about you, there's nothing except their own good will stopping them from banning you from all accounts.