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An unwanted update to your Google Account

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Re: An unwanted update to your Google Account

#171

Post by ac29 »

Rapzid wrote: post #160
ac29 wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In this article, Google wasn't incorrect though - this person just wanted the rules for a country they werent in to apply instead of local rules. Google made a good faith attempt to comply with local rules for this customer based on the (correct) location data they had.

I'm curious if you have sources as to: A. How long this person was in Malaysia B. What local laws they may have been in breach of or in jeopardy of breaching(or Google) C. What specific local rules/laws Google was attempting to comply with in good faith(if any)

A. They were in Malaysia at the time they attempted to get Google to change them to Germany: "To clarify, I requested that Google leave my country association as Germany. I was in Malaysia when I made this request"

B & C. I'm not a lawyer, but unless you're suggesting the law in Germany and Malaysia has literally no difference to the services Google provides, I'm not sure what your point is.

Re: An unwanted update to your Google Account

#172

Post by moltar »

dpwm wrote: post #69
waych wrote: post #46

Xoogler here. The way I remember this working is that it is entirely dependent on the methods of payment (MOP) associated with your account. If you remove MOPs from country A, and then 30 days later you add a MOP from country B, your underlying gaia account will have the home country migrated (affects play store, etc). The workaround is to use different accounts, each with MOP from different countries. Pretty sure IP…

Never worked at google, but I use their services and moved country recently. > The workaround is to use different accounts, each with MOP from different countries. Pretty sure IP doesn't matter. Maybe it has changed, because this was not my experience: my methods of payments have all remained the same. It appears to be based on IP, because my transition was delayed compared to family members who moved with me because…

I would be an interesting corner case for them then. My account is setup as Canadian, but physically I’ve been in Vietnam for the past 1.5 years, but my home router always tunnels via Singapore. I do so on mobile often as well when I’m outside of the wifi range.

Re: An unwanted update to your Google Account

#173

Post by Rapzid »

ac29 wrote: post #171
Rapzid wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious if you have sources as to: A. How long this person was in Malaysia B. What local laws they may have been in breach of or in jeopardy of breaching(or Google) C. What specific local rules/laws Google was attempting to comply with in good faith(if any)

A. They were in Malaysia at the time they attempted to get Google to change them to Germany: "To clarify, I requested that Google leave my country association as Germany. I was in Malaysia when I made this request" B & C. I'm not a lawyer, but unless you're suggesting the law in Germany and Malaysia has literally no difference to the services Google provides, I'm not sure what your point is.

You can just say you don't know.

Re: An unwanted update to your Google Account

#174

Post by hnick »

remus wrote: post #147
dredmorbius wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google wishes to enjoy the investment, employment, legal, and cultural benefits of being physically located in the United States for its key operations, but wishes to associate itself with Ireland, the Netherlands, and Bermuda for tax purposes. Why shouldn't its users seek similar geographic arbitrage?

Because Google has to satisfy the legal requirements of the country the user is actually in.

GDPR will apply to EU citizens living abroad, and the country they are currently in may have conflicting rules. What then? The whole idea seems like a headache.

Re: An unwanted update to your Google Account

#175

Post by askmike »

croes wrote: post #164
seoaeu wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there any reason to believe that asking would be remotely reliable? There's a reason that liquor stores don't just ask people whether they're over 21.

Does the liquor store estimate your age or do they ask for your id? Google should ask and then could demand proof.

What would they ask for? You can have residency in many countries.

Re: An unwanted update to your Google Account

#176

Post by Seb-C »

chrismorgan wrote: post #15

I just took a look at this for my own account. It has me associated with India; I’m Australian, but spent just over a year in India recently. I have never received any notification like the one cited in this article. (Perhaps because it wouldn’t affect which company service is offered through? But the laws may still differ.) And as far as Google Play Store is concerned, I’m American for some completely unknown reason…

The country of the Play store is not actually the same than the one this article is about.

I could find a way to change it and have the local store when I moved to Japan, but honestly I don't remember exactly how.

I only remember that it was a major pain in the ass to understand how to do it. I had to navigate between different applications (notably Google pay) and web interfaces to finally be able to change this setting. Worst UX ever.

Re: An unwanted update to your Google Account

#177

Post by cptskippy »

croes wrote: post #151
cptskippy wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PayPal LU, the bank that makes PayPal EU possible is a Subsidiary of PayPal Holdings Incorporated in the US. > All US persons, including US-incorporated entities, their foreign branches (including non-US entities owned or controlled by a US person that are also subject to US sanctions with respect to certain sanctions programs, such as the US's Iran, Cuba, and North Korea sanctions programs) and employees, are prohib…

Paypal has already lost in german court. And global sanctions are still invalid. Paypal explicitly violates applicable EU law, namely the EU Blocking Regulation. This EU directive was explicitly issued in response to the US embargo against Cuba. It prohibits European companies from complying with the embargo and threatens all those who engage in the US blockade with severe penalties. And PayPal (Europe) S.à r.l. & Ci…

Are the penalties worse than what they would face from US authorities? How do you balance that?

Re: An unwanted update to your Google Account

#179

Post by soraminazuki »

remus wrote: post #147
dredmorbius wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google wishes to enjoy the investment, employment, legal, and cultural benefits of being physically located in the United States for its key operations, but wishes to associate itself with Ireland, the Netherlands, and Bermuda for tax purposes. Why shouldn't its users seek similar geographic arbitrage?

Because Google has to satisfy the legal requirements of the country the user is actually in.

You're missing the point. To reiterate the whole point of the article, Google is ignoring the actual residency of their users. European citizens who have merely traveled are forcibly having their accounts moved to another country with lax privacy laws. Also, in accordance with everything else they do, there's no meaningful way for users to reverse this decision.

The quote from the article makes this even more clear:

>> I got the same Mail. They want to move my account from Germany to Thailand. I’ve not been to Thailand (or anywhere else) since 2 years…

Re: An unwanted update to your Google Account

#180

Post by anoncake »

mavhc wrote: post #139
anoncake wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Somewhere more prominent, in the main UI. The user may want to see different pages in different languages (e.g. to avoid garbage translations). Or perhaps explicitly ask the user.

Again, 99% of people want the default language, annoying them isn't helpful, nor is adding 100 more menu options

99% < 100%. If the Accept-Language header is set correctly reliably enough, why don't websites respect it?
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