Google disabled my husband's account • Hacker News Board

Re: Google disabled my husband's account

#21

Post by fred_is_fred » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 6:13 PM UTC

FullyFunctional wrote: post #9

fred_is_fred wrote: post #6

I will say that I can only imagine how annoying and frustrating this is, but the way he's approaching this on twitter is not going to win him any fans in his reporting chain. In a fight like this you need senior management as allies wanting to help, not as enemies as you stomp your feet and embarrass them.

Reporting chain wasn't helping him. This is obviously his last resort. I pay for Google services and stuff like this is motivating me to look into migrating away (the only thing I _actually_ care about is mail).

So he's going to piss away a $300k+ job over this. And then what? The account will still be locked out.

Re: Google disabled my husband's account

#22

Post by izacus » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 6:13 PM UTC

actuator wrote: post #14

I have been thinking about this for a while. Considering I prefer to keep the important data/emails on Gmail or Google drive for security and I really consider it important. Would it help if Google had a paid tier? Say, if you can get into an annual plan, similar to what's there for hardware devices like Apple Care+. Just that, in this there is someone to help you through issues. We used to pay 10% of our AWS bill fo…

> I have been thinking about this for a while. Considering I prefer to keep the important data/emails on Gmail or Google drive for security and I really consider it important. Would it help if Google had a paid tier?

It wouldn't, because Google is averse to any kind of customer support even for paying services. Even the "support" people that get attached to highly paid YouTube, GSuite, and other accounts get regularly stonewalled like this person and cannot help.

The only solution? Make sure all of your data is always backed up somewhere else.

Re: Google disabled my husband's account

#23

Post by itake » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 6:13 PM UTC

actuator wrote: post #14

I have been thinking about this for a while. Considering I prefer to keep the important data/emails on Gmail or Google drive for security and I really consider it important. Would it help if Google had a paid tier? Say, if you can get into an annual plan, similar to what's there for hardware devices like Apple Care+. Just that, in this there is someone to help you through issues. We used to pay 10% of our AWS bill fo…

Google does have a paid tier and they have terrible support unless you're at the enterprise level.

Re: Google disabled my husband's account

#24

Post by save_ferris » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 6:13 PM UTC

X6S1x6Okd1st wrote: post #13

Every time this happens I think about reducing my dependence on google, however I'd love to be able to make this decision by evaluating the actual risk of this happening. Does anyone know an estimate of how likely this is to happen to an individual on a per year basis? Obviously that risk will change as the organization changes, but if it's happening to a couple hundred good faith accounts a year I'd probably put it…

> Does anyone know an estimate of how likely this is to happen to an individual on a per year basis?

There's zero chance Google would ever volunteer this information, anything you see on here is probably a WAG at best.

Re: Google disabled my husband's account

#25

Post by ffpip » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 6:13 PM UTC

X6S1x6Okd1st wrote: post #13

Every time this happens I think about reducing my dependence on google, however I'd love to be able to make this decision by evaluating the actual risk of this happening. Does anyone know an estimate of how likely this is to happen to an individual on a per year basis? Obviously that risk will change as the organization changes, but if it's happening to a couple hundred good faith accounts a year I'd probably put it…

7 billion people use Google. If you look at the likeliness of it happening to one guy out of 7 billion, it would be very, very small. But the problem is, once it is banned, you will probably lose a lot of important stuff permanently.

Re: Google disabled my husband's account

#26

Post by toomuchtodo » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 6:13 PM UTC

actuator wrote: post #14

I have been thinking about this for a while. Considering I prefer to keep the important data/emails on Gmail or Google drive for security and I really consider it important. Would it help if Google had a paid tier? Say, if you can get into an annual plan, similar to what's there for hardware devices like Apple Care+. Just that, in this there is someone to help you through issues. We used to pay 10% of our AWS bill fo…

No. You should be backing up your Google digital artifacts to local storage or an object store you have access to and can control access to (for example, my partner knows how to get to our Backblaze B2 storage buckets and request a USB drive of all the data if needed, which contains a lifetime of documents, emails, voicemails, iCloud photo backups, etc).

If you insist on using Google, keep backups elsewhere. You cannot rely on them for support (although you might be able to get it, don’t count on it).

Re: Google disabled my husband's account

#27

Post by zymhan » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 6:14 PM UTC

actuator wrote: post #14

I have been thinking about this for a while. Considering I prefer to keep the important data/emails on Gmail or Google drive for security and I really consider it important. Would it help if Google had a paid tier? Say, if you can get into an annual plan, similar to what's there for hardware devices like Apple Care+. Just that, in this there is someone to help you through issues. We used to pay 10% of our AWS bill fo…

Why would Google treat a TOS violation differently for a paid account?

Re: Google disabled my husband's account

#28

Post by izacus » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 6:14 PM UTC

fred_is_fred wrote: post #5

This is a good reminder to always backup your photos/docs elsewhere - if you have one Synology has a good Google integration that will do this automatically (I then send it up to Glacier for off-site). And also - eschew the convenience of OAUTH - just create an account at every site - it's annoying but at least you avoid you're entire life being locked out.

Synology also allows you to run your own contacts, calendar service and has a Google Photos equivalent called Moments (which includes the mobile app to autobackup photos).

The difference? You own the data on your own drive.

Re: Google disabled my husband's account

#29

Post by Causality1 » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 6:14 PM UTC

Another example of why we need public internet services that aren't run by private companies. Imagine if your mailing address was run by a private company and they could take your mailbox, erase your address, and forever prevent you from receiving mail sent to that address ever again.

Every human deserves an email account, linked to if not publicly exposing their real identity, access to which is not revocable except by court order.

Re: Google disabled my husband's account

#30

Post by ffpip » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 6:14 PM UTC

itg wrote: post #12

Right now I have everything tied up to my Google account (primary email, drive, photos). Has anyone moved away and if so, to what?

Don't use Gmail to signup for stuff. If you lose the account, you lose all the forgot password links, the email 2FA codes, and the communication with support.