Live data from Hacker News

I got locked out of my Google account for a month

techcrunch.com

171–180 of 210 posts

Re: I got locked out of my Google account for a month

#171
post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd be surprised for how many technology-inept users that wouldn't make a difference. They'll still mark the email as spam. It's easier for many people to understand and easier to click.

It sometimes can be better to mark it as spam. There was a thing a while back where the unsubscribe link was just verifying that you still check that email account, and you click on links, so they'd send you more spam.

That's closer to an urban legend than the truth. If you once gave them your email address, they are generally good about honoring unsubscribe requests. It's expensive for them to create a high-quality customer list, so they're not going to play games that put them into a gray area. Don't be lazy and classify them as spam on this basis, because it fails to distinguish good-faith businesses from actual spammers.

Senders who bought, stole, or brute-forced your email address are a different story. For them it's just a numbers game. They are, by definition, spammers and should be treated as such.

There is a final group of senders who you did once interact with but who show these behaviors:

1. They are too incompetent to keep the unsubscribe server running;

2. They broke the the mail template so it doesn't point to a valid URL;

3. They fail to control subscription preferences within their own company so that the marketing department keeps using the same old list even though months of unsubscription requests have accrued since then;

4. (My pet peeve) They take you to a blank form that asks for personally identifying information in order to unsubscribe, rather than embedding an identifying token in the email's unsubscribe link. Out of principle, I will not enter PII into any form on the other side of an email link, even if it comes from someone in my family. It's too easy to fall victim to phishing, and I resent any sender that puts me in that situation. If a business asks for any PII to unsubscribe, I close the tab and mark the email as spam.

Any of those get marked as spam. Their intent was not to spam me, but I can't do business with incompetent senders.

Re: I got locked out of my Google account for a month

#172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mark spam as spam. Unsubscribe from content you signed up for and no longer want.

And how many things are "signed up for you"? There's a lot of those. It's getting harder to tell what I actually signed up for, and what I thought I was signing up for.

If they say "signed up for you," then it's spam -- it's unsolicited commercial email. Unless you designated someone else as your agent to sign you up for crap on the web, then you didn't solicit it.

Re: I got locked out of my Google account for a month

#173
post #88

Why don't they just offer some kind of emergency support with a hefty pricetag for these cases? Eg pay 200$ to have an actual human verify your identity? I don't think that would cost them anything and most people in this situation would likely pay any price to regain access..

Because they would likely lose money over it.

Re: I got locked out of my Google account for a month

#175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm confused, so you are answering every single security question correctly and you age logging in from your usual location without any kind of Tor/VPN/etc. and you still have no way to access that account? Or are you merely prevented from logging in via Tor/VPN?

That is correct, I had the same issue. My account was previously always used in Germany, and then fell into disuse once I migrated to another Google account (to change the primary email address). Someone tried several passwords for the account from Russia, Google warned me by sending a warning to the backup email, and let the attacker in anyway. Being in Germany, the reset flow asked me to either (a) provide the phon…

>> I'm confused, so you are answering every single security question correctly and you age logging in from your usual location without any kind of Tor/VPN/etc. and you still have no way to access that account?

> That is correct, I had the same issue.

> the reset flow asked me to either (a) provide the phone number used [...] or (b) prove ownership of the backup SMS [...]

> (which I couldn't, because the phone number had long been reassigned)

But this means what I said earlier is not correct, since you are not answering all of their security questions correctly.

Re: I got locked out of my Google account for a month

#176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US over time has developed this amazing alternative system to deal with all kinds of really complicated b.s. it involves guys and gals in black robes. They even get to say "Agree, that thing you signed is stupid, so we are going to presume you did not actually sign that". Use them. They are lovely. 1-800-BUILD-A-BEAR lovely. They also happen to love to smash into faces of smug dumb entities. Like Google. Or Apple. Mo…

Wouldn't life be wonderful if this was true.

Talk less. File more.

Re: I got locked out of my Google account for a month

#177

I think this is the money quote: “That same day I opened a second GMail account so I could have access to services like an email account if need be, [...]” So, this journalist is in the middle of a horrible experience with Gmail and responds by ... opening another Gmail account, because basically realistically imagining email as something other than Gmail is far too much of a stretch in most people’s minds.

What alternatives to GMail do you recommend?

Re: I got locked out of my Google account for a month

#178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is correct, I had the same issue. My account was previously always used in Germany, and then fell into disuse once I migrated to another Google account (to change the primary email address). Someone tried several passwords for the account from Russia, Google warned me by sending a warning to the backup email, and let the attacker in anyway. Being in Germany, the reset flow asked me to either (a) provide the phon…

>> I'm confused, so you are answering every single security question correctly and you age logging in from your usual location without any kind of Tor/VPN/etc. and you still have no way to access that account? > That is correct, I had the same issue. > the reset flow asked me to either (a) provide the phone number used [...] or (b) prove ownership of the backup SMS [...] > (which I couldn't, because the phone number…

I managed to successfully complete the (a) flow, but it was considered not enough, due to the different IP, and minor inaccuracy with the creation date.

I later managed to successfully complete the (b) flow due to the SMS.

I believe Google isn't using a binary definition of success, but a confidence interval of how sure they are you are the actual owner - if they are reasonably sure you are the owner, less questions need to be solved, if they are reasonable sure you are not, they cancel the flow before you even have a chance, and if they're unsure, they ask you more questions.

On my first attempt, I got over a dozen questions to validate myself, later on, I got told "sorry, we don't believe you" after already one question.

Re: I got locked out of my Google account for a month

#179
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked for a large b2c website. Many users used the password recovery flow essentially as their login mechanism. Seriously.

Some companies understood and embraced this: Slack and auth0 can send you "login links" via email which log you right in. Remove that pesky "password" from the entire "password reset" flow. Makes perfect sense (meaning: there's clearly users making use of it).

We did the same after realizing what was going on.

Re: I got locked out of my Google account for a month

#180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> I'm confused, so you are answering every single security question correctly and you age logging in from your usual location without any kind of Tor/VPN/etc. and you still have no way to access that account? > That is correct, I had the same issue. > the reset flow asked me to either (a) provide the phone number used [...] or (b) prove ownership of the backup SMS [...] > (which I couldn't, because the phone number…

I managed to successfully complete the (a) flow, but it was considered not enough, due to the different IP, and minor inaccuracy with the creation date. I later managed to successfully complete the (b) flow due to the SMS. I believe Google isn't using a binary definition of success, but a confidence interval of how sure they are you are the actual owner - if they are reasonably sure you are the owner, less questions…

> I managed to successfully complete the (a) flow, but it was considered not enough, due to the different IP, and minor inaccuracy with the creation date.

That's exactly what I mean though. You didn't answer their questions correctly. It wasn't just due to your location/IP; you put in the wrong date. (It's quite funny/ironic that you are also answering my questions incorrectly and yet insisting otherwise. While I sympathize with you for the actual problem, it doesn't help anyone sympathize when they see facts being twisted!)

Post reply on HN