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Google users locked out after 15 years' use

businessinsider.com

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Re: Google users locked out after 15 years' use

#21

Post by grishka »

szszrk wrote: post #7

Being locked out from google account is one of my biggest fears in practical computer usage. Over the years I can't even tell how much I'm sunk into using tiny pieces of google's services, even though for most crucial things I tend to omit google and look for alternatives that are easier to handle in problematic situation. Mail is one of the things I'm most worried about.

> Mail is one of the things I'm most worried about.

Use an IMAP client. It would keep all your mail on your device, so at least you don't have to rely on having uninterrupted access to your account for your old conversations.

Actually, I'm surprised just how many people use email through web interfaces for some reason.

Re: Google users locked out after 15 years' use

#23

Post by kylehotchkiss »

TheChaplain wrote: post #3

Tip: Get your own domain from a non-google registrar, then connect to Gmail if you prefer. If you ever are locked out, you can just move the address to another email-provider. Another trick is to use always have forwarding enabled in Gmail, to Outlook.com or another provider. All email will be forwarded despite your account being locked, so you will not miss out on important info. And use Google Takeout for backing u…

I do a takeout every time I see one of these Hacker News posts :(

Re: Google users locked out after 15 years' use

#24

Post by amanzi »

szszrk wrote: post #7

Being locked out from google account is one of my biggest fears in practical computer usage. Over the years I can't even tell how much I'm sunk into using tiny pieces of google's services, even though for most crucial things I tend to omit google and look for alternatives that are easier to handle in problematic situation. Mail is one of the things I'm most worried about.

You can keep an offline copy of all your mail by using a mail client like Outlook or Thunderbird and leave it running while it downloads all mail through IMAP.

Re: Google users locked out after 15 years' use

#25

Post by jart »

manigandham wrote: post #10
rusticpenn wrote: post #2

At what point does it make sense to take this to court?

When you have millions of dollars or millions of users to back you up.

You are not helpless as an individual. If the company wrongly disables your account and leaves you no other option, you are well within your power to fill out some paperwork and file a lawsuit. It should cost you $10k just to respond.

Re: Google users locked out after 15 years' use

#26

Post by Tor3 »

grishka wrote: post #21
szszrk wrote: post #7

Being locked out from google account is one of my biggest fears in practical computer usage. Over the years I can't even tell how much I'm sunk into using tiny pieces of google's services, even though for most crucial things I tend to omit google and look for alternatives that are easier to handle in problematic situation. Mail is one of the things I'm most worried about.

> Mail is one of the things I'm most worried about. Use an IMAP client. It would keep all your mail on your device, so at least you don't have to rely on having uninterrupted access to your account for your old conversations. Actually, I'm surprised just how many people use email through web interfaces for some reason.

Search and find old emails.. that's where gmail works. I guess that's why I keep using it. For work I use Thunderbird (the best of the bad alternatives), and search is horrible and extremely slow (and usually never find what I want to find). If I had something which was as easy as gmail for handling tens of thousands of emails I would switch.

Re: Google users locked out after 15 years' use

#28

Post by ilikepi »

strombofulous wrote: post #13
dannyw wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You signed a binding arbitration agreement, didn’t you?

I thought agreements like that weren't binding if the person signing them didn't realize they were entering that agreement.

You don't remember that checkbox you clicked when registering for your account affirming that you definitely 100% read, understood, and agreed to be bound by Google's Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy?

Re: Google users locked out after 15 years' use

#30

Post by stiray »

Welcome to vendor locked-in world where you have willing-fully decided to become prisoners in exchange for few sweets that you dont really need.

I hope you dont also own some google router or even better, "home security" device. This would make it a real pain. I am explaining this to people since the birth of gmail, but no one listens.

Let me think for a moment, what would happen if google does this to me...

[x] No google email (I have my own mail server - it is just a $90 motherboard with onboard cpu with disks)

[x] Modified ROM, no google on android

[x] No google cloud (Nextcloud is just fine, for virtualization I have bhyve. They are both just great)

[x] No applications bought from google play (If application doesnt provide "off google" licensing, I am not buying it - voting with my money)

[x] No content served by google (If I want to share video, I just upload it to my server. No annoyances about copyrights or anything else. It just works.)

[x] No data whatsoever stored in google ecosystem (actually actively fighting against them storing any information about me)

Hm, looks like - nothing?

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