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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

#651

Post by 7786655 »

RonanTheGrey wrote: post #612
liveoneggs wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

use multiple non-linked google accounts never use an android device

I'm really struggling with this one. I'm increasingly unhappy with Apple's bullying and the only other option I have is a company that may brick my device at any moment because "machine learning". There's seriously got to be a better way. I want to get a Pine Phone but they don't sell them with service where I live yet..

I've had good results with LineageOS-microg. Obviously I would prefer a 100% free OS, but you can't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Make sure you back up the stock rom first, you might need it later.

Re: Google users locked out after 15 years' use

#652

Post by nucleardog »

ValentineC wrote: post #548
hedora wrote: post #491

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have my email going to my own domain, but can’t figure out how to ground it out in anything other than someone else’s tld. So, now I’m in a situation where, if my gmail account gets banned, and the DNS provider decides to reset my password, then I’m permanently locked out of everything. I could point my DNS provider at my “real” email address, but that’s even worse, since needing to update the MX record could lock…

> I have my email going to my own domain, but can’t figure out how to ground it out in anything other than someone else’s tld. What do you mean "ground it out"? As a consumer, I suspect hosting a "holding" domain, and possibly email, with AWS Route53 DNS might be a sensible approach that wouldn't break the bank. AWS has policies on account and password recovery that even include a notarised affidavit. It might help t…

> As a consumer, I suspect hosting a "holding" domain, and possibly email, with AWS Route53 DNS might be a sensible approach that wouldn't break the bank.

This is what I do.

Totally isolated AWS account that owns `my-account-recovery.com` in my country-code TLD (because I have legal rights and strong and easy access to appeals processes with that, so unlikely the domain could be wrestled from me and likely I could eventually regain ownership if lost).

I use Amazon SES for incoming email to simply drop all incoming messages as objects in a S3 bucket.

I have SNS notifications going out to my regular operational email whenever a new message comes in with the metadata (sender, subject, etc but not the body as that could contain actual reset/account recovery links) so I can keep an eye on what's coming in.

Haven't looked at my bills lately, but including domain renewal and stuff this is maybe $100/yr to establish this as a root of trust/access. Even if other accounts are breached/suspended/etc, I will still have access to this account and can recover my way down from there.

I'm putting all my eggs into the AWS basket here, but I've had a good experience with them in the past and I really can't find any examples of people being locked out of their accounts in the same way I can with Google. And I know from experience that it's not impossible to get in contact with a real live person when it's required to resolve an issue.

Re: Google users locked out after 15 years' use

#653

Post by scottydelta »

Anarch157a wrote: post #334

Everyone saying "I would lose all my e-mail" apparently doesn't know about fetchmail, getmail or even Thunderbird. Just download your mail using IMAP or POP3 and archive it locally. I recently deleted my last Gmail account (that I had since 2001). Before doing it, I tried Google's Checkout to get the data, but it was adking me for "verification" (i.e. more info about me) to finish the download. I just fired up Thunde…

I recently used https://github.com/gaubert/gmvault to do the exact same thing.

Re: Google users locked out after 15 years' use

#654

Post by nucleardog »

lordnacho wrote: post #384
_jjca wrote: post #60

This is genuinely scary. Photos, Yale locks, Fi, WiFi and Nest thermostat can all be poof gone because I made a silly YouTube comment? How is this not regulated? Google photos also 'helpfully' offers to delete your uploaded photos with 'some guarantee'!!! If this isn't an indication of a giant shitty monopoly that doesn't care about its customers at all, I don't what is. They have some AI ML fucking crap but can't fi…

This raises a question. If you're well marinated in Google services, like me, what do you do? Is there a comprehensive, simple, and easy way to port everything? Perhaps there's some authoritative site about what exactly you need to do?

My two cents would be don't worry about a comprehensive degoogling plan. Just chip away at stuff until you feel like the risk level is acceptable to you.

For me, that started with email. Email is a root for a lot of your digital identity.

I can't guarantee access to @gmail addresses going forward, but I can at least _start_ fixing that problem. I picked up a new domain, hosted the email with someone else, and set all my other accounts to forward to it. I updated a few really critical things right away, but for the most part it's just as I go log into various accounts with the old email address, I update it.

I didn't really bother trying to migrate the email out of my gmail account. Instead I did a bulk download from Google Takeout so I know I _can_ access that old email if I really need to find something.

Six months or so in, the bulk of my identity is now tied to a domain that _I_ own, and email hosted with someone I can trust more than Google.

It's not perfect, but already the impact if Google were to suspend my account has dropped immensely.

Cutting Google completely is something you do on principle. Instead, just look at what the impact of losing access to various services would be and address those specifically. (E.g., losing drive? Switch to NextCloud if availability is a concern; or set up a regular Takeout download if data loss only is a concern but an interruption in availability is okay, etc)

Re: Google users locked out after 15 years' use

#655

Post by TheKarateKid »

tracker1 wrote: post #628
slashdev wrote: post #492

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My parents have a business selling low-carb cookbooks online. They used to do very well because of the organic reach they had on Facebook (they have 1 million likes on their page). Posts would routinely have reach in the millions. One day Facebook changed their algorithm and their reach (and revenue) dropped over 10x. They've been limping along since then, and are planning to retire. It's tough having a single point…

Facebook's moderation rules have determined that Keto and Low Carb aren't scientifically supported, so now tend to suppress resources that proliferate those views. I emphatically don't agree with this, but this seems to be the line of reasoning with a lot of things. The reality that much of science is never truly "settled" doesn't really matter. On the one hand, I feel there are a lot of leeches to society that hop o…

What also probably happened is that Facebook changed their algorithm to reduce organic growth to push businesses like this to spend more on ad money. They've been doing this for a few years now, and have been aggressively doing the same on Instagram.

Love or hate TikTok, the reason it's become so big is that their algorithm actually promotes organic growth instead of hindering it.

Re: Google users locked out after 15 years' use

#656

Post by eloff »

TheKarateKid wrote: post #655
tracker1 wrote: post #628

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook's moderation rules have determined that Keto and Low Carb aren't scientifically supported, so now tend to suppress resources that proliferate those views. I emphatically don't agree with this, but this seems to be the line of reasoning with a lot of things. The reality that much of science is never truly "settled" doesn't really matter. On the one hand, I feel there are a lot of leeches to society that hop o…

What also probably happened is that Facebook changed their algorithm to reduce organic growth to push businesses like this to spend more on ad money. They've been doing this for a few years now, and have been aggressively doing the same on Instagram. Love or hate TikTok, the reason it's become so big is that their algorithm actually promotes organic growth instead of hindering it.

That's my parent's theory.

Re: Google users locked out after 15 years' use

#657

Post by RonanTheGrey »

7786655 wrote: post #651
RonanTheGrey wrote: post #612

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm really struggling with this one. I'm increasingly unhappy with Apple's bullying and the only other option I have is a company that may brick my device at any moment because "machine learning". There's seriously got to be a better way. I want to get a Pine Phone but they don't sell them with service where I live yet..

I've had good results with LineageOS-microg. Obviously I would prefer a 100% free OS, but you can't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Make sure you back up the stock rom first, you might need it later.

Wow that's amazing, will definitely take a look!

Re: Google users locked out after 15 years' use

#658

Post by the-angry-dome »

I had my entire Google ads account shut off with zero explanation after getting what had been a healthy influx of traffic to a new project. Months of contact, even hired a lawyer at one point, and still could not get Google to say anything, and hell I used to work for Google as a SWE!

It's gotten ridiculous enough to the point that we should all be filing class action against them, and Washington should break them apart in such a way as to separate search and ads. It's stifling competition.

Re: Google users locked out after 15 years' use

#659

Post by someonehere »

Are we sure this isn’t just a username someone wanted and knew someone with power at Google to hand it over? 15 years ago the author may have had a hard to get Google name. I have one that’s constantly being spammed by people who want it. Wasn’t there a story posted here a couple of months ago where FB or IG employees were stealing usernames for friends and FB/IG refused to respond to use demands ?

I almost feel like the author had this happen.

Re: Google users locked out after 15 years' use

#660

Post by est »

gabrielrdz wrote: post #455
est wrote: post #421

Separate your gmail, photos, youtube, play and adscense account. For me, I use a dedicated account for photo backups, and no interactions with any other google service. One gmail for interweb, one for IRL activities, one youtube acount for raging and one for my android with G Play. I don't have an adscense account yet but I've read many articles how linked adscense violations destroys your personal gmails.

Do you really think that they have no way to tell that it's you between all those accounts? I mean, there's no really a concept of account linking between Google Accounts, but between your IP being on all the accounts, and browser or device fingerprinting, I'm not sure this is really a reliable fail safe. It should be, but I doubt it.

Yes there is no guarantee, but it's better than putting all your eggs in one basket.
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