What It's Like To Get Locked Out of Google Indefinitely (businessinsider.com) 352
An anonymous reader shares a report: When he received the notification from Google he couldn't quite believe it. Cleroth, a game developer who asked not to use his real name, woke up to see a message that all his Google accounts were disabled due to "serious violation of Google policies." His first reaction was that something must have malfunctioned on his phone. Then he went to his computer and opened up Chrome, Google's internet browser. He was signed out. He tried to access Gmail, his main email account, which was also locked. "Everything was disconnected," he told Business Insider. Cleroth had some options he could pursue: One was the option to try and recover his Google data â" which gave him hope. But he didn't go too far into the process because there was also an option to appeal the ban. He sent in an appeal.
He received a response the next day: Google had determined he had broken their terms of service, though they didn't explain exactly what had happened, and his account wouldn't be reinstated. (Google has been approached for comment on this story.) Cleroth is one of a number of people who have seen their accounts suspended in the last few days and weeks. In response to a tweet explaining his fear at being locked out of his Google account after 15 years of use, others have posted about the impact of being barred from the company that runs most of the services we use in our day-to-day lives. "I've been using a Google account for personal and work purposes for years now. It had loads of various types of data in there," said Stephen Roughley, a software developer from Birkenhead, UK. "One day when I went to use it I found I couldn't log in." Roughley checked his backup email account and found a message there informing him his main account had been terminated for violating the terms of service. "It suggested that I had been given a warning and I searched and searched but couldn't find anything," added Roughley. "I then followed the link to recover my account but was given a message stating that my account was irrecoverable." Roughley lost data including emails, photos, documents and diagrams that he had developed for his work. "My account and all its data is gone," he said.
He received a response the next day: Google had determined he had broken their terms of service, though they didn't explain exactly what had happened, and his account wouldn't be reinstated. (Google has been approached for comment on this story.) Cleroth is one of a number of people who have seen their accounts suspended in the last few days and weeks. In response to a tweet explaining his fear at being locked out of his Google account after 15 years of use, others have posted about the impact of being barred from the company that runs most of the services we use in our day-to-day lives. "I've been using a Google account for personal and work purposes for years now. It had loads of various types of data in there," said Stephen Roughley, a software developer from Birkenhead, UK. "One day when I went to use it I found I couldn't log in." Roughley checked his backup email account and found a message there informing him his main account had been terminated for violating the terms of service. "It suggested that I had been given a warning and I searched and searched but couldn't find anything," added Roughley. "I then followed the link to recover my account but was given a message stating that my account was irrecoverable." Roughley lost data including emails, photos, documents and diagrams that he had developed for his work. "My account and all its data is gone," he said.
The Price You Pay (Score:5, Informative)
Sure, the pricing is attractive but what's the catch?
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wrong.
If he was a paying customer he can sue for damages.
the catch for google is they have legal responsibilities.
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Re:The Price You Pay (Score:5, Insightful)
Yet, like so many other services (tinder to name one), they don't seem all too willing to enumerate specifically how he violated the terms.
A valid accusation can be accompanied by details. Otherwise, it's just tyranny: "I say you broke one of my rules. Which one you don't need to know. Here's my ruling and the consequence."
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TIL that Google is my ex-wife.
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This is why humans created the legal system. Take it to court.
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But you can stand upon the shoulders of squashed Davids and reach new heights.
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...they don't seem all too willing to enumerate specifically how he violated the terms.
Yeah, that's the real problem. If someone is accused of violating terms, they MUST be told what they are being accused of.
Re:The Price You Pay (Score:5, Insightful)
Imagine, if you will, that the cops show up at your door one day. They put you in handcuffs, tell you that you're under arrest, and throw you in their car. When you get to the police station you're taken straight to a cell and left there.
You call your lawyer to tell him you've been arrested. He speaks with the cops, but neither you nor he can be told why you've been arrested. Just that this is how things are now.
When the trial comes you're not allowed to attend. Nor is your lawyer. You are not allowed to actually know what crime you are accused of, you see. Because reasons.
You are found guilty and sentenced to life in jail with no possibility of parole. You still don't know what crime you've committed, or even if you committed one at all.
Does this seem like a good way of running the justice system? If not, why should private companies be allowed to act that way?
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Losing your Google account is not akin to losing your freedom.
Don't equate them because it's a stupid analogy that's not true.
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Two days after creating a Microsoft Account, I was told that I had violated the TOS, and could only regain access if I gave them my phone number.
The only thing I had done with it was download an NVidia driver from the MS Store.
I hadn’t violated anything. They just wanted my phone number.
“Violating the TOS” has become a catchall when they don’t want to provide a reason.
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Two days after creating a Microsoft Account, I was told that I had violated the TOS, and could only regain access if I gave them my phone number.
I never violated any TOS, but when I needed to terminate my no-longer-needed Skype subscription, I found that the only way to do so was to delete my entire Microsoft account. Why in hell would they set things up like that?
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It isn't tyranny, it is bad business. Take yours elsewhere if you like.
Yeah, because the power of the .0001% is understated, right?
This is an example of when you going elsewhere, and everyone you know going elsewhere, will have no effect whatsoever.
Market forces only work for those in the majority.
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I can see how Duck Duck Go would have a complaint about Google's dominance. But as a consumer, all you have to do to break Google's monopoly is type duckduckgo.com or hotmail.com.
The guy in this story complaining because he wants to remain under the blessed-thumb of what you think of as the worst-imaginable overlord. It's as if--at the end of the 1984 commercial--the runner sat down in the theater and started using an IBM luggable.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:The Price You Pay (Score:5, Informative)
My gut feeling is that either the customer isn't telling the full story, or else Google suspended him or her by accident and he or she's getting the runaround because Google themselves are confused as to what's happened and/or just sending automated form replies.
While there very well may be missing parts, as someone who had their google account shut down 2 weeks ago, my experience was very similar.
I received a e-mail to my recovery e-mail associated with the google account.
From: no-reply@accounts.google.com
Subject: Security alert for your linked Google Account
Your Google Account is disabled.
The Google Account yyy@gmail.com is now disabled. It looks like it was associated with multiple other accounts, or created by a program, and used to violate Google’s policies.
If you think this is an error, you can try to restore your account by submitting a request for review.
Disabled accounts will eventually be deleted. You’ll need to make your request soon to keep your emails, contacts, photos, and other data stored in your Google Account. Learn more about Google policies.
I submitted a request for review asking for clarification and gave a brief overview of what the account was used for indicating that I was unaware of it being associated with multiple account and that it was created by me, a human. I received the following reply.
From: accounts-support@google.com
Subject: RE: [casenumber]
Hello,
Thank you for contacting us about your disabled Google Account.
Your request has been reviewed, but unfortunately your account can't be restored because it was found to have been used in a way that violated Google's policies.
The Google Accounts Team
This email can't receive replies. For more information, visit the Google Accounts Help Center.
And now I can no longer use that account. I was able to get data out using the "download my data button". there was no interface other than giving an e-mail address to send to notify when the export was complete, but the zip file was a takeout file using their standard format, so in theory, the person in the article should have been able to get all of the google associated data. Still screwed by where else that account may be used and what those sites recovery options are, but the Google Data should have been recoverable.
Re:The Price You Pay (Score:5, Interesting)
I wonder if someone could use the GDPR here, which will require google to deliver ALL the data they hold on the person (if the person is an EU citizen). Then the person could review that data and see if any of it could explain which ToS google thought was being violated. The data dump would be meaningful to a court.
Re:The Price You Pay (Score:5, Informative)
Typically courts will look down on someone being suspended for violating "terms of service" without due process.
No, not really. Due process is not necessary under the wording of the terms of service which say the following:
4.3 As part of this continuing innovation, you acknowledge and agree that Google may stop (permanently or temporarily) providing the Services (or any features within the Services) to you or to users generally at Google’s sole discretion, without prior notice to you. You may stop using the Services at any time. You do not need to specifically inform Google when you stop using the Services.
And
4.4 You acknowledge and agree that if Google disables access to your account, you may be prevented from accessing the Services, your account details or any files or other content which is contained in your account.
And
13.3 Google may at any time, terminate its legal agreement with you if:
(A) you have breached any provision of the Terms (or have acted in manner which clearly shows that you do not intend to, or are unable to comply with the provisions of the Terms); or
And
14.2 You expressly understand and agree that your use of the services is at your sole risk and that the services are provided "as is" and “as available.”
and also
15.1 Subject to overall provision in paragraph 14.1 above, you expressly understand and agree that google, its subsidiaries and affiliates, and its licensors shall not be liable to you for:
(A) Any direct, indirect, incidental, special consequential or exemplary damages which may be incurred by you, however caused and under any theory of liability.. this shall include, but not be limited to, any loss of profit (whether incurred directly or indirectly), any loss of goodwill or business reputation, any loss of data suffered, cost of procurement of substitute goods or services, or other intangible loss;
(B) Any loss or damage which may be incurred by you, including but not limited to loss or damage as a result of:
(I) Any reliance placed by you on the completeness, accuracy or existence of any advertising, or as a result of any relationship or transaction between you and any advertiser or sponsor whose advertising appears on the services;
(II) Any changes which google may make to the services, or for any permanent or temporary cessation in the provision of the services (or any features within the services);
III) The deletion of, corruption of, or failure to store, any content and other communications data maintained or transmitted by or through your use of the services;
(III) Your failure to provide google with accurate account information;
(IV) Your failure to keep your password or account details secure and confidential;
Basically, anyone using Google has agreed that Google can do exactly what it did and if one loses anything, it is one's own fault and Google owes one nothing.
Re:The Price You Pay (Score:4, Interesting)
You have provided the correct answer.
A large glass of Kool-Aid?
It’s hard to believe we even have a court system, what with these “agreements” being the last word on everything.
I don’t want to burst your bubble, but not all of the terms in an adhesion agreement are enforceable.
See, even the court is aware that commerce relies on people not reading every TOS they are presented with, and they don’t want the world to see the horrors that would await the economy while everyone stopped to read every 27-page ‘agreement”, and every agreement linked to from that agreement, a third being broken links.
Resolution of which would preclude most purchases before the customer lost interest.
Be careful what you ask for ...
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No he didn't. Otherwise they would have told him the precise reason.
This is just one thing: Some dick abusing his power. Like those NSA thugs who spied on their love interests and the people their love interest had contact with.
Likely a quite common incident. Ot takes a certain type to do that job in the first place.
The type my grandparents literally strung up on the church tower, after the war, by the way.
No personal experiences? I have one. (Score:3)
How many people actually read the ToS? And do any of them understand it?
But I do have a personal story to share about being banned from a Google service for some years. It was Google Groups, which I sort of was sort of forcibly migrated to when usenet was effectively migrated over there. One day I couldn't access it. Why? Never found out why. Tried to ask and never got an answer. Did I do something wrong? Did someone accuse me of doing something wrong? Did a meteor strike the server with my access permissio
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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Re:The Price You Pay (Score:4)
a court of law can disagree about that
To be fair, that’s exactly why every “agreement” has an “arbitration clause”.
Ironically, when they are the ones that have been wronged, the companies still overwhelmingly seek a day in court. Arbitration is for you.
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wrong.
If he was a paying customer he can sue for damages.
the catch for google is they have legal responsibilities.
Allow me to clarify the reality:
(20th Century Business) "Yes, that will be $9.95 a month to use our internet-enabled service that we host."
(20th Century Consumer) "OK, that's fine and reasonable. After all, you're providing something, and I'm benefiting from it."
(21st Century Consumer) "Pay? For internet services? What are you, some kind of racist?"
Needless to say, few qualify, and it's still Nobody vs. Mega-Corp. Good luck.
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I was paying $60/year for Vimeo Plus.
My ex-girlfriend hacked into my account via a FB login and uploaded 1 video and Vimeo completely erased my account and gave me no recourse.
I lost many unrecoverable coding videos I had made.
Re:The Price You Pay (Score:5, Informative)
The lessons here seems to be to:
1) Have back ups of your work
2) That are independent and redundant
3) So you're not vulnerable to a single point of failure.
Re:The Price You Pay (Score:5, Insightful)
4) Avoid Google
Re:The Price You Pay (Score:5, Insightful)
In the U.S., obtaining justice is extremely expensive, to the point of being unaffordable and thus unattainable by ordinary folks.
And, even if you win, the defendant may not be able to pay reparations making it not worth the effort.
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It could always be...
(D) His password was the same combination she used on her luggage.
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Even if he tries to sue, he already agreed to a EULA/TOS that said that he can be tossed for any reason. Plus, Google can buy a lot more justice can he can. This has been a court precedent since the days where people tried to sue Verant/SOE when they had their EverQuest accounts banned, and got laughed out of the court system.
Even well-heeled companies don't stand much of a chance against FAANG. Look how Epic is getting beaten in the courts by Apple, with the only "win" is the fact that Apple couldn't ta
Re:The Price You Pay (Score:5, Insightful)
A backup is the simplest kind of management. Also the big boys relying on the cloud already know this. This story could have had the same result with, "ransomware locked me out of my files" with no big corporation to blame.
Re:The Price You Pay (Score:4, Informative)
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Clouds are flimsy things, make up of low density water vapor. You can't trust them to do much except to moisten things. Relying upon a Cloud to safely and reliably store your data is extremely naive.
What? You have 100,000 photographs you stored in the Cloud? You must indeed be a professional photographer. Therefore you need to buy reliable storage, available down the street at Target or Walmart or Office Depot, then include this as part of your business expenses on your taxes.
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Unfortunately, you need some Google account services if you want to interface with Google for search engine reporting, keyword hits, and other data and statistics for sites you own. What happened in this story, other than the "violation of terms" message, has recently happened to me with the account I use for my web sites.
I went to log in, and after putting in my randomly generated and very secure password, Google said it couldn't verify who I was so it asked to send me an email to my recovery address. It
Re:The Price You Pay (Score:5, Interesting)
Google better tread carefully here. Do you want laws that turn large tech services into utilities? Because this is how you get laws that turn large tech services into utilities.
Don't trust the cloud (Score:5, Interesting)
Don't trust the cloud
Re:Don't trust the cloud (Score:5, Insightful)
It's very hard. Most phones rely on having a Google account, or an Apple account.
You can live without one but it's not pleasant. This is something that regulators should look at because it's basically due to those two having a near monopoly on several markets.
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I think this is a little mis-directed. Apple? Sure. But Google? No, you cannot download from THEIR online store, but Android allows easy side loading and 3rd party stores. Hell, as much as well all love to hate on Fortnite around here, just remember they refused to even be on the Play store at launch, and instead offered to download the app directly from Epic.
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How is it hard? I can't say that I've noticed. Of course, I am responsible for maintaining my own back ups and whatnot but that's kinda trivial, no.
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The bar for what Google will close an account for is surprisingly low for example they banned an account for 'spamming' a youtube chat feed with emojis... when the video owner had asked people to do just that!!!
What next, banning people for swearing on a Youtube comment? Or how about calling someone an idiot?
I don't use gmail for my most important emails and I'm really glad now that I don't. But I'm still thinking about moving more away from them if they're going to ban you from service A for something you
Big Tech No-Fly List (Score:2, Interesting)
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GLORY TO ARSTOTZKA !!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Re:Big Tech No-Fly List (Score:5, Insightful)
people keep arguing that google and facebook are protected from allegations of censorship, etc, because they run a private platform and are not a media company. Yet they advertise, and worse, they have duped the entire tech industry into using them as a single-sign-on authority. Instead of every site maintaining their own list of users, authentication, and recovery, they hit the easy button and use Facebook authentication or Google authentication. The result of being blacklisted like this is more than not just retrieving your email, it is tantamount to identity theft. I would like to see some lawyers actually argue the identity theft approach. It is one thing to say you can no longer use our services, it is another to knowingly prevent them from using every other service out there as well. They should be legally required to maintain his username/password for authentication purposes for every other system that uses google account authorization systems.
Re:Big Tech No-Fly List (Score:4, Insightful)
people keep arguing that google and facebook are protected from allegations of censorship, etc, because they run a private platform and are not a media company.
What those people don't get though is that censorship is not defined by who does it, but the actions taken against a particular person or idea. Bring a private platform or not can go into determining acceptability of said censorship, but IMO one needs to consult a dictionary if they think that the act of censorship alone is defined by who does it.
Gotta know... (Score:3, Funny)
Okay, you had me at "disabled". What could you have possibly done? Did you express admiration for OneDrive?
Time to declare Google a utility (Score:5, Insightful)
I think we have reached the point where Google should be regulated as a utility. A utility can just shut down your services at will.
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Google is free to do what it wants. The answer is: stop using The Clown for all of your private data. This goes for all providers.
Use The Clown, expect a circus.
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A utility is also regulated by laws as well, that's why they can't shut off "at will" services to someone who needs them for medical reasons.
Re:Time to declare Google a utility (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah... I am not a huge fan of regulation, but speaking as someone who has a shit ton of stuff on Google ( which I am now backing up!!!) This is not cool and they have become, almost like a utility! There must be some rules.
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Yeah... I am not a huge fan of regulation, but speaking as someone who has a shit ton of stuff on Google ( which I am now backing up!!!) This is not cool and they have become, almost like a utility! There must be some rules.
I'm not a huge fan of regulation either but sometimes it is necessary. Big tech has become much too powerful.
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The problem is avoiding regulatory capture. If you want to campaign to make them a public utility, take strong steps to prevent that from happening.
Re:Time to declare Google a utility (Score:5, Interesting)
Agreed. In the mean time I keep my Google accounts backed up on a daily basis to try to limit the damage.
- Thunderbird opens at 4 AM on a cron job, closed at 5 AM (use nircmd on Windows to do a graceful shutdown), data files backed up Jottacloud at 5:15 AM. Thunderbird automatically syncs via IMAP.
- Google calendar via Powershell equivalent of wget/curl, also scheduled and backed up off site.
- Google Photos is currently impossible to backup automatically.
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This article made me look into this again, there are in fact ways to backup Google Photos.
Rclone claims to be able to do it, will test later. There is also gphotos-sync.
For Google Drive you can use the official sync client or you can use something like Duplicati. Google Drive also backs up your Google Docs, although I'm not sure how useful the format they come in is. Need to check if LibreOffice can open them, certainly any scripts in Sheets won't work.
I don't think there is an automatic solution for Maps a
Re:Time to declare Google a utility (Score:4, Informative)
The problem is really not just the data though. The issue Google is also your identity provider.
Even if you are not using google authentication to log into other services, if you don't have your password you might not be able to recover those accounts at all if you lose your @gmail address.
Its one of the reason I bought my own domain even though I use Google for mail. At least I can point my MX back to my own mail server or someone other provider if Google ever decides to make gmail/domains go away or kicks me off. Backing up my mail and other data itself is really the least bad part of potentially getting frozen out of Google,
This is why you don't trust free-as-in-beer (Score:5, Insightful)
This is why you don't trust free-as-in-beer services for anything important. They're almost always operating on terms that make individual users irrelevant to them, and when they do something you have no recourse no matter how egregious their actions. Only depend on something when you have a contract in writing with signatures and everything and you're paying for the service (without payment a court's liable to rule that there wasn't a contract). And read the contract before you sign, because a contract with no enforceable penalties will, when the other party breaks it, leave you getting to keep the pieces.
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in the last couple years you cannot do things on unrelated sites without authenticating with facebook, twitter, or google. Since I consider facebook the shedevil, I have always had to rely on my google login in order to setup certain things. For example, albeit on iOS, I have to authenticate with google in order to access remote control of an AmpliFi home router, they simply did not code any other authentication methods into it. If you leverage yourself to the be authority on single-sign-on, then blacklisti
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You are presuming that they actually violated the terms of service. Since Google declined to state HOW they did so, I tend to doubt that they actually did.
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and when you cannot login to something that IS NOT Google? Like your home router, or your online shopping, or any other service specifically NOT google, that uses google authentication instead of maintaining their own user database? What happens when your bank decides to use Facebook authentication and 2FA to log into your bank account? You show up in person and they tell you "I'm sorry but unless you can get another Facebook account, or get Facebook to reinstate you, we cannot help you", what happens then?
Re:This is why you don't trust free-as-in-beer (Score:5, Interesting)
Being a paying customer of Google is not as big of an improvement as you think.
I work for a small company with under 1000 GSuite Enterprise licensed accounts. One of these accounts was suspended without warning a few months ago. Google support, when contacted, said the suspension is the warning, since the account could still be reactivated.
This was one of our main customer service mailboxes, which handles sending and receiving hundreds of customer inquiries daily.
Google support also claimed that it was due to a high number of messages from the account reported as spam. There is no built in admin tool (or API) for viewing how many messages are reported as spam, but they did offer access to an additional reporting tool. We set this up hoping to see the actual number of spam reports so we could monitor. The reports showed the count of reported spam from that email address over the previous 6 months was zero.
We still have no idea why the account was suspended.
Google Takeout, people! (Score:5, Insightful)
They make it easy to get snapshots of your data. You can schedule it, and they'll remind you when each snapshot is ready. Unless you have hundreds of gigabytes of data, it's pretty easy to download the data to someplace you control.
You might need to manage your own photos and find an mbox-compatible mail reader, but you'll at least have the data.
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I think the policy of requiring companies to let people download a bundle of all their data is a good one. (Although it is a security/privacy vulnerability since it's one-stop shopping for the bad guys too).
Re:Google Takeout, people! (Score:5, Interesting)
I recommend getting your own domain name too. It's not foolproof as you might lose that too, but at least you can easily forward your mail anywhere so are not tied to one provider. Register it in a country with decent privacy and contract laws, e.g. Germany.
Re:Google Takeout, people! (Score:4, Interesting)
Hmmmm. (Score:2)
...so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name....
Any way to auto download goog acct? (Score:2)
It would be nice if there were a script that could download all info (pics, emails ect) onto a PC and then schedule it on a weekly basis. The real problem is being banned from google apps, lets say you bought 100$ of apps, then you lose access to those.
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Links usually help.
https://www.lifewire.com/what-... [lifewire.com]
Just stop using the Cloud (Score:3)
IMAP is the cloud (Score:3)
Most normal people donâ(TM)t have the knowledge or means to run their own server for everything. At the bare minimum, people depend on a cloud service such as gmail for their email.
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I made a rpi cloud box with NextCloud for $100 and reading.
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It's not just normal people.
I'm pretty tech savvy, and I know I could run my own email server. But I'm smart enough to know that I couldn't run it as securely as Google can run theirs. I couldn't have the uptime that they have. It would be much more difficult to have access to my email on my phone. I probably wouldn't spam filter as well as they do. I'd also have to rely on an internet provider which services millions of home users, emails originating from which would very likely get blocked by major provid
Just stop using the Internet. (Score:2)
And Yahoo is what? Kind of takes some of the Steam out of "stop trusting cloud services". Speaking of trust, do you trust your ISP? Take your "head out of your behind" on that point.
The cloud = someone else's computer (Score:3)
I'm sure I still depend on some Google services, but not many. Our whole family went through a "Google-ectomy" a couple of years ago, because it's just not good to be sooo dependent on one provider - a provider you don't actually even have any sort of paid contract with. Guess who controls your data - it isn't you.
That said, these ToS violations are absolute crap. They should be (heck, probably are) legally required to point out exactly what they believe you did, that was in violation. Further, they should certainly be required to let you appeal before terminating your services. Anything else is too much like "guilty: prove your innocence", which is to say, in direct conflict with basic principles of justice.
Re: The cloud = someone else's computer (Score:2)
It's even worse than "guilty: prove your innocence" because the charge is sealed and there's no way to know what you allegedly did.
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Alas, no, they're not legally required to explain why they terminated your account for a violation. If it's the free service, then they can simply terminate arbitrarily. If it's a paid contractual service, you'll find that they can terminate for a violating your terms of service. If you have pockets deep enough to take them to court, then sure. But you'll be pitting your wallet against Google's.
And yes, the way the world seems to work these days is through "Guilt by accusation". If someone accuses you
Commit to the Man (Score:3)
Any 3rd party single sign in is a trap best to be avoided. Any 3rd party service or application that is critical to your business ops should be replaced.
If you don't, the man owns you and will soon be ordering you to bend over for re education.
No sympathy (Score:2)
Diversification is safety.
Unfathomable (Score:2)
HAHAHAHA (Score:2)
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Fuck the clouds and services (Score:2)
Is this reproducible? (Score:2)
Google needs to be regulated (Score:2)
I try to limit my use of Google... I run my own mail server and host my own web site. However, I'm a hobbyist YouTuber and there's really no alternative to YouTube for putting up short videos and getting any sort of viewership.
Also, I have an Android phone which is much less useful without a Google account. So yep... regulate Google as a utility.
back up your data (Score:2)
What's with all the comments about not using the cloud? It's just another computer. If you weren't using the cloud, would you *still* gunna keep all your important data on one computer? That's just as stupid.
Back up your data. Then it doesn't matter which computer you use: the cloud, your computer. Any of them can die, go up in a fire, or lock you out at any point.
How to appeal a deception - to the corporation? (Score:2)
What a strange story (Score:3)
I have nothing on google except the paid apps from their play store, no photos, no blogs, no shit. If they cancel the aps, I'll be inconvenienced, but for most I already have a reasonably good opensource replacement/alternative.
Got blocked from Facebook in 2010-ish (they asked for my PASSPORT page to "recover" the account), never looked back.
Same will happen to Google if they so desire.
If you're dependent on "online services" for your life, it is your own fault.
Free sometimes the most expensive option (Score:2, Insightful)
Google is an ADVERTISING company.
Google does NOT give a FUCK about you.
Relying on Google for ANYTHING is beyond STUPID.
While this will sounds obvious and redundant to most of you a significant minority has yet to internalize the message.
Place your bets (Score:3)
I'm gonna go with:
The moment this gets a spotlight shined upon it, Google is going to back-track and re-instate access to the account.
All the while blaming a " glitch, bug or software error " accidentally flagged the account.
You watch.
Google is probably lying (Score:4, Insightful)
"Google had determined he had broken their terms of service, though they didn't explain exactly what had happened..."
Yeah. So they're probably lying. They *must* know what he did or they couldn't have legitimately made such a determination. That means they're being dishonest by not explaining what the violation was (probably because they can't) or they're lying about him breaking their terms of service. (Assuming he's reporting accurately, but it's plausible enough at least.) There's also a chance they were served with some sort of clandestine order from some authority requiring them to terminate his account, but even with the state of the world today, it's more likely to be some action Google took on their own.
It's the whole "if you don't know what you did wrong, I'm sure not going to tell you!" Anyone who's been on the receiving end of that from someone knows how bleeping stupid it is.
Indeed. I get the occasional "adsense policy violation report" from Google related to a business venture. But not once has the violation report or their dashboard ever given me enough information to figure out what the violation is, let alone where it is. I really do wonder how they expect anyone to deal with those "violations" if they won't provide any information.
Re:Google is probably lying (Score:5, Insightful)
You're assuming there is someone involved to know anything. This is Google, remember - they automate everything they can automate, including more than a few things they shouldn't.
Part of the problem (Score:3)
Every techie on the planet knows that Google is a problem.
Yet these same techies continue to use Google despite their behavior
I submit that:
An individual knows that Google is a problem
That individual still allows themselves to become so dependent on Google that being locked out is a disaster
That individual is part of the problem
Big tech will never change unless we stop enabling their behaviour
Think of the hit Google would take if we all changed our default search engine to DuckDuckgo
Re: (Score:2)
Interesting how the article never commented on what the people thought might be the violation that caused Google to do this.
From the article [businessinsider.com]:
The lack of transparency about how he broke their terms of service also has him worried. "I keep thinking there has to be a reason they've suspended me, even though it could just be some algorithmic glitch or something.," he said. "It's difficult to shake this feeling, given that Google practically has mountains of data on me.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)