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Don’t Mess with The Google

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Re: Don’t Mess with The Google

#11

Post by manicdee »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #2

I'd say I'm surprised that Google would lock you out of your own data despite their claims that you still own your own data, but Google has repeatedly demonstrated that this is not the case. I would be surprised if any of these users get their data or their accounts back without involving a lawyer, based on prior examples. The author says they've contacted the EFF, and hopefully the EFF will offer assistance. This is…

You own your data, just not the box it is stored in or the gate you pass through to get to the box.

Re: Don’t Mess with The Google

#13

Post by macinjosh »

This just disgusts me. This is the problem with giving everything we rely on to a for profit corporation like Google, et al.

It's not your data if they can take it away from you. Your data is their profit center so we should demand more of these companies or simply avoid them as much as possible.

Re: Don’t Mess with The Google

#15

Post by throwaway76543 »

I recently made a decision to stop running my own mail server, figured it was long, long overdue to pay someone to handle my email for me.

Stories like this are why I didn't pick gmail for this service, which would have otherwise been my first choice.

Re: Don’t Mess with The Google

#16

Post by drewcrawford »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #6
mendelk wrote: post #3

TL;DR: At least 200 people participated in a scheme in which they purchased (multiple) Pixel phones and had them shipped to a dealer in NH for resale to others, in contravention of the Google ToS. In response, Google suspended all their accounts, without the option to download any their stuff, including email and drive data, etc.

Is a ToS rule like that even legal? This comes a bit more from copyright law, but the US has the "right of first sale"[0] which guarantees individuals the right to sell works they purchased to someone else. I can't imagine this protection would be weaker on physical purchases. Additionally, Google's Terms of Service also says you own your data, including IP rights: "You retain ownership of any intellectual property r…

Yeah, very legal.

The "right of first sale" means that you can't be sued (well, you can be sued but they would lose) if you sell a book you own. It doesn't say that the publisher of that book must continue to sell you additional copies or that the author won't give you a dirty look if you pass in the street or that someone may take steps that don't involve suing you for copyright infringement to discourage your activity.

This is, by the way, the same trick that powers RHEL – the binaries are all GPL, so you can totally redistribute them to anyone. If you do though, RHEL will cancel your account.

You own your data but not the servers on which that data is stored, so you can't compel Google to give you access to it, any more than you can compel me to produce your comment from my browser cache if you lose it. Refusing to give you access to their servers definitely isn't theft.

Very legal. Arguably unethical, but that's a different question.

Re: Don’t Mess with The Google

#17

Post by ocdtrekkie »

manicdee wrote: post #11
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #2

I'd say I'm surprised that Google would lock you out of your own data despite their claims that you still own your own data, but Google has repeatedly demonstrated that this is not the case. I would be surprised if any of these users get their data or their accounts back without involving a lawyer, based on prior examples. The author says they've contacted the EFF, and hopefully the EFF will offer assistance. This is…

You own your data, just not the box it is stored in or the gate you pass through to get to the box.

Much like a landowner owning all of the land around your property cannot reasonably deny you the right to cross their property to get to yours, I'd argue if Google does not own your data on their service, they must grant you access to that data at bare minimum.

I'm not super well versed in the details, but my suggested reading would be discussion of easement rights: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easement

Re: Don’t Mess with The Google

#19

Post by kinkdr »

We have to stop being naive about our email accounts.

My recommendation is to buy a domain name use that as the primary email.

It may cost in total around $100/year but it is definitely worth it.

Re: Don’t Mess with The Google

#20

Post by el_benhameen »

throwaway76543 wrote: post #15

I recently made a decision to stop running my own mail server, figured it was long, long overdue to pay someone to handle my email for me. Stories like this are why I didn't pick gmail for this service, which would have otherwise been my first choice.

May I ask who you chose?
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