It's gaining media coverage: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/17/google-su...
Don’t Mess with The Google
331–340 of 504 posts
Re: Don’t Mess with The Google
#332I'm co-founder of Daplie (https://Daplie.com) and we offer a home cloud (pointedly dubbed "Cloud") that competes with some (or potentially all) of Google's G Suite.
The Internet never seemed so small, closed, and locked as when we got our notice that our ads account was suspended (and we got no explanation other than that the reason was 'on a list they weren't allowed to talk about'). It suddenly became super clear just how much Google monopolizes the web and had the power to censor products and services and ideas they don't want.
Not evil, eh?
...
Re: Don’t Mess with The Google
#333Earlier quoted context omitted.
Then don't trust a registrar. Get a domain directly through a NIC that offers that directly.
Can you recommend one? I've never heard of this.
Many NIC's support this but they aren't really setup to handle individuals (they prefer resellers do that) expect to pay a lot more for the privilege. You can usually find the Registrar by just going to nic.tld (e.g. http://nic.io/)
Re: Don’t Mess with The Google
#334What happens with someones 2FA accounts that use google authenticator in this scenario?
Re: Don’t Mess with The Google
#335Earlier quoted context omitted.
> even when they shutter services they give you plenty of advance warning The original article is about how this is absolutely false in the case discussed.
Parent was probably referring to closing down entire products (e.g. Google Reader).
Ah yes, that makes more sense. Thanks.
Re: Don’t Mess with The Google
#336Earlier quoted context omitted.
We (FastMail) are really nice people :)
This is quite biased that you hijack a thread.
How so? It gives us an opportunity to ask questions to make sure the service is right for us. I think it's pretty cool that I could talk directly to a Fastmail employee if I wanted to, without having to call support or open a chat session.
Besides, I'm the one he directly replied to, and I'm not complaining. Why do you care?
Re: Don’t Mess with The Google
#337I just did a cursory search for options to backup google account.
The most comprehensive option seems to be https://takeout.google.com/settings/takeout, which offers to save data from almost all google services to a downloadable ZIP file. That is manual solution though, with no official way to automate.
Other option is to back up data from each service separately with different tools:
* offlineimap for GMail,
* goobook for Google Contacts (mainly for Android contacts),
* gdrive for Google Drive.
* other tools for other services.
Re: Don’t Mess with The Google
#338Earlier quoted context omitted.
That’s why you use a trustworthy ISP. My current ISP, for example, is actually a local company providing datacenter colocation and consulting services to the state’s government and local and national companies, but they also run a small ISP as side business.
>they also run a small ISP as side business Which means their small ISP business is something they wouldn't mind so much getting rid of, along with your account. The point is, you'll always depend on someone else. Your data will always flow through someone else's network. The cloud is someone's computer, and the internet is someone's cable.
You always have to rely on someone, but you can structure your affairs so that you're only temporarily reliant on them to provide service today, not to provide service indefinitely.
If your email address is "me@gmail.com", you're stuck with Google. If they suspend your account, you're in big trouble. If your email address is "me@myname.com", you're a free agent. You can use Gmail or Fastmail or some random hosting company or a mailserver on a Raspberry Pi. You can use DNS or forwarding to send your mail wherever you like, you can transfer your domain name to any registrar you like. Rule zero.
If all your files are in Google Drive or Dropbox and nowhere else, suspension of your account could mean total data loss. If you have a local backup on a NAS or a mirror on Glacier or Backblaze, you're just mildly inconvenienced. Rule two.
Eliminate single points of failure wherever possible. Avoid vendor lock-in. Don't rely on a service unless you have a contingency plan if that service fails. Treat everything as if it were hopelessly unreliable.
Re: Don’t Mess with The Google
#339Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
Point one here is the BIGGEST. If you do nothing else, own your domain name, and forward mail to a service provider of your choice. In my case, I made my new email address forward to Gmail, and then started changing everything over to use my new address. Then, when I moved providers to FastMail, all I really had to do was re-point my domain name. Even if for some reason I lost my FastMail (pretty unlikely), I'd just…
> If you do nothing else, own your domain name, and forward mail to a service provider of your choice.
Even this may not be sufficient. I had a domain name registered through my ISP (UKFSN). At some point I had a disagreement about payment with my ISP, who refused to discuss it. Instead of replying to my messages, they disabled all my domain records and my emails started bouncing. I think this was illegal (and eventually I forced an apology and compensation out of them - long story). Anyway, I would recommend only having a domain name registered through a dedicated registrar who you are not using for any other services.
Re: Don’t Mess with The Google
#340Is this even legal? To hide something life this in terms and conditions? It goes against what most people consider "to purchase"
Some things are, some things aren't and yet still get put into EULAs of all sorts.