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Don’t Mess with The Google

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Re: Don’t Mess with The Google

#201

Post by aristidb »

wnm wrote: post #187
brongondwana wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We also stalk you on... I mean, we read the same tech news sites you do. (I'm on third line ticket duty right now, so if you have something significantly more complex than RTFM, or an actual bug, you'll probably be talking to me this week) The most common cause of getting locked out other than you abusing your fastmail account is having your credentials stolen and used for spam/fraud, which is why we recommend 2 fact…

some feedback from a happy fastmail customer: please add 2 factor authentication via sms! I neither have a smartphone or yubikey.

SMS is not very secure, there have been quite a few stories of people losing digital access due to an attacker just calling Verizon and taking over their phone account.

Re: Don’t Mess with The Google

#203

Post by spotirca »

calcifer wrote: post #172
kajecounterhack wrote: post #120

Disclaimer: I don't speak for Google and don't have any real context into why this occurred. Speaking as myself, a private citizen. I work in Spam & Abuse and it's possible that this is the result of some clustering algorithm that was trying to take down sharders / phone buying rings. It's very possible that the SWEs responsible didn't consider this possibility (that legitimate customers would be used to shard purcha…

What does "FP" stand for?

False Positive

Re: Don’t Mess with The Google

#204

Post by facepalm »

It's really a problem with Google offering more and more services. On the one hand it is nice and convenient, but every additional service increased the risk of everything being lost because of some silly mistake.

Re: Don’t Mess with The Google

#205

Post by a012 »

brongondwana wrote: post #75
a3n wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fastmail. I'm just a regular (paying) customer, not a business or anything. I've opened a small number of tickets, one or two of the RTFM variety. I've always got a human response and satisfaction, even a "here, let me RTFM that for you." I can't imagine being locked out of my fastmail account for anything other than abuse of my fastmail account . Or not paying my bill.

We also stalk you on... I mean, we read the same tech news sites you do. (I'm on third line ticket duty right now, so if you have something significantly more complex than RTFM, or an actual bug, you'll probably be talking to me this week) The most common cause of getting locked out other than you abusing your fastmail account is having your credentials stolen and used for spam/fraud, which is why we recommend 2 fact…

Previously I've been hesitant to disuse Gmail, but now I'm 100% confident to actually transition to Fastmail. And I'll take Fastmail in consideration for my company usage too (we're a smb).

Re: Don’t Mess with The Google

#206

Post by mikejb »

throwaway98237 wrote: post #142
kajecounterhack wrote: post #120

Disclaimer: I don't speak for Google and don't have any real context into why this occurred. Speaking as myself, a private citizen. I work in Spam & Abuse and it's possible that this is the result of some clustering algorithm that was trying to take down sharders / phone buying rings. It's very possible that the SWEs responsible didn't consider this possibility (that legitimate customers would be used to shard purcha…

If you watch an old tech talk re: Google disaster recovery topic, the Googler explains that a user's info is never fully deleted because it's too expensive to do so given back-up duplication is processed multiple times in multiple locations and sometimes over multiple technologies. In other words, cancel your google account today and your data may be "deleted" but it's really, as in actually really , still on magneti…

Can you point me to that tech talk? I think this info is outdated, at least it conflicts with what I believe to know.

Re: Don’t Mess with The Google

#207

Post by Singletoned »

bitmapbrother wrote: post #202

>Don’t Mess with The Google What a bunch of scammers. Not only did they deprive people that actually wanted the phones for their personal use, but they also engaged in a coordinated effort to profit from them.

> What a bunch of scammers. Not only did they deprive people that actually wanted the phones for their personal use, but they also engaged in a coordinated effort to profit from them.

That's pretty harsh. They weren't depriving anyone of anything. Selling the phone on means that someone who wants one for personal use, gets one. And there's nothing inherently immoral about coordinated efforts to make a profit. That's what businesses are after all.

Re: Don’t Mess with The Google

#208

Post by Singletoned »

cammil wrote: post #196

I think this would be illegal in the UK due to the Data Protection Act: Some excerpts from Wikipedia on DPA: "Personal data shall be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date." - Would Google be allowed to discard emails sent to you from others? Would this constitute personal information? "Appropriate technical and organisational measures shall be taken against unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal dat…

That's an interesting point, but my reading of that is that Google would be fine. They can't accidentally delete your data, but they can do it deliberately.

Re: Don’t Mess with The Google

#209

Post by hellofunk »

zhte415 wrote: post #139
hn_user2 wrote: post #110

This is a big wake up call for me. I have everything in google: Drive, email, voice, docs, sheets, etc. I was actually about to sign up for Fi. The convenience of everything in one place is great. But I don't think I had quite thought through a disaster like this. With this article in mind, need to reevaluate. I guess either regular local backups and/or diversification of service providers would be a good step.

1. Have your own domain name. You can change provider from Z to Y at the flash a DNS record gets updated. Email is designed as a federated service, but to be so your email _address_ needs to be too. 2. For files, use a cloud solution and have 2-3 computers updating their local copy (home PC, work PC, phone, small Pi box acting as server). I have a Digital Ocean box running ownCloud, soon to change to nextCloud. Put y…

Don't forget about the guy whose twitter account was stolen because a hacker got access to his email _because_ the weak link was a custom domain and poor security at Godaddy. The domain was hacked, giving the attacker full access to email, and therefore ability to change passwords, transfer ownership of a prized twitter account and more. It has been discussed here quite a bit. The folks that answer phones at domain registrars don't usually have adequate training and social engineering is common.

Re: Don’t Mess with The Google

#210

Post by bad_user »

cowl wrote: post #200
mistermann wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait until they get into the thought police business for some real interesting situations. All jokes aside, for those who remember, it's pretty amazing what Microsoft got punished for ( bundling a browser with the OS, with no other restrictions) compared to what Apple and Google get away with.

Bundling a browser with the OS that had 98% of all user share at the time. neither Apple not Google come anywhere close to that market domination with their iOS or Android systems. Also the case was much more broad that just the browser it was for software that runs on the OS. Antitrust is not just about what a company does but mainly about what other alternatives are out there. In Microsoft's case there were no othe…

I really don't want to defend Microsoft, but Internet Explorer won all that market share because back in the day IExplorer really was the best browser available. And given what happened next, I'm actually grateful for the IExplorer monopoly, because Firefox wouldn't have happened otherwise.

We tend to forget that even natural monopolies can be broken by new technology and innovation. And even big companies can be beaten by smaller ones. Microsoft tried to beat Google at search while Google was smaller and much less powerful than it is today. They couldn't, because big companies have a priority to protect their cash cows and don't necessarily have the talent or the focus required to tackle new markets (i.e. the innovator's dilemma). Google tried to beat Facebook at social. They also failed by being too conservative, while at the same time fucking their users. Can you spot a pattern?

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