Google disabled my husband's account • Hacker News Board

Re: Google disabled my husband's account

#81

Post by tpoacher » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 6:25 PM UTC

I've been slowly trying to decouple myself from google in the last few years (/decades) ... but I have stuff that goes back at least 2 decades that I have been lazy / hesitant, e.g. contacts on the phone (since I doubt I would have the necessary patience to import / export / sync contacts manually anymore).

But ... seeing this kind of thing, I need to reconsider and at least keep a monthly backup or something ... as far as you know, it's not even going to be your fault when you get locked out, so you shouldn't assume it just won't happen to you.

Re: Google disabled my husband's account

#82

Post by m00x » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 6:25 PM UTC

nichch wrote: post #63

jebronie wrote: post #56

Maybe they detected highly illegal content and won't disclose it for those reasons (could be an ongoing investigation).

Would this not be paired with some kind of law enforcement agency action?

Maybe that action is to be ensued later as part of the investigation.

Google banning accounts stories is usually a one-sided thing. Who knows if Google had a very good reason to ban his account.

Re: Google disabled my husband's account

#83

Post by breakingcups » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 6:25 PM UTC

It's incredibly Kafka-eqsue that you get banned for a supposed violation that you're supposed to appeal, but you don't know what you're being accused of doing.

This is exacerbated by the fact that 9 out of 10 times a story like this appears it's an algorithm gone rogue which its billion-dollar shepherd assumes is infallible.

The remaining 1 time it's because someone knows how to abuse reporting systems to get someone locked out on purpose.

The only reason these tech companies managed to get so big is because they'll cheat at anything that requires human scale. Support, moderation, taking responsibility for the content they host. They somehow managed to skirt on that just as the web was transitioning from a wild west to a somewhat ingrained, regulated place and the world is worse off for it.

Because they skirted on all this, they are now somehow the world's gatekeepers on modern communications. If you don't play ball with them, you're cut off from almost everyone. Their recklessness and callousness ironically put them in the position to rule over the rest.

Re: Google disabled my husband's account

#84

Post by arthurcolle » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 6:25 PM UTC

Eyas wrote: post #2

This story is just absolutely ridiculous: The poster _works at Google_ and even tried to escalate internally for days, to no avail.

I would lose my mind if this happened to me. Can't imagine how frustrating this would end up being.

Re: Google disabled my husband's account

#85

Post by avipars » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 6:26 PM UTC

Eyas wrote: post #2

This story is just absolutely ridiculous: The poster _works at Google_ and even tried to escalate internally for days, to no avail.

Seriously?

I guess they get the same treatment

Re: Google disabled my husband's account

#86

Post by snazz » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 6:26 PM UTC

rdschouw wrote: post #59

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?

I use Google Apps but with my own domain. My own domain gives me the opportunity to take my business elsewhere with limited impact. The caveat is that I pay $6 / month (instead of free).

Yep! This is exactly what I do. With Google Takeout, I don't have to worry about data loss if I get locked out of my account or other issues like that.

Re: Google disabled my husband's account

#87

Post by Someone1234 » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 6:26 PM UTC

ffpip wrote: post #30

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.

And use what instead? You're just re-stating the problem, not offering anything in the way of a solution.

Re: Google disabled my husband's account

#88

Post by blunte » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 6:26 PM UTC

csdreamer7 wrote: post #38

speeder wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Currently I am trying to figure out how to move e-mail away from google, not my personal one, but my company e-mail. Couldn't figure out yet... The reason is that despite being a corporate costuemer we don't pay enough to have access to support, and some issues we had, the only thing the FAQ and documentation did was redirect us to a page behind payment.

Have you considered Zoho? They have a free tier and gdocs competitor.

I left Gsuite for Zoho (mail) a couple of years ago after reading so many of these Google account closure scares. I cannot speak to the quality of the Zoho office apps, but their email seems reliable and allows me to have over a dozen domains tied to one account at a tiny cost per month. Fastmail, as I recall, couldn't or wouldn't allow many domains tied to one account (otherwise I would have chosen them).

Re: Google disabled my husband's account

#89

Post by brundolf » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 6:26 PM UTC

01100011 wrote: post #58

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…

If Google won't do it, why hasn't a 3rd party stepped up to provide the service? I'd gladly pay a trustworthy company a few dollars a month to automatically backup my gmail, google photos, and google docs. I don't want to do it locally, since that puts me on the hook for assuring physical safety and backups of my backups. I suppose I could roll my own solution, but frankly I get tired of maintaining my one-off projec…

> since that puts me on the hook for assuring physical safety and backups of my backups

Only in the event that Google locks you out, at which point you can create a new backup elsewhere. If Google has a copy and you have a physical copy, then Google would have to lock you out at the very same moment your house burns down for you to lose any data.

Re: Google disabled my husband's account

#90

Post by ocdtrekkie » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 6:26 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?

Fastmail. But the key thing is using my own domain name. You can actually use Gmail safely... as long as you are using your own domain name. If Google (or Fastmail) terminated my account, I could point my domain name to another mail service, and not lose access to any of my other services.

But as long as you're using an @gmail.com address as your digital identity, your access to all of your online accounts is tied up in that single arbitrary point of failure, to a company that does not view you as a valuable customer.