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Google Deletes Last 7 Years Of User's Digital Life, Shrugs

consumerist.com

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Re: Google Deletes Last 7 Years Of User's Digital Life, Shrugs

#231

Post by thomasmonopoly »

slam00 wrote: post #212
thomasmonopoly wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

hi. someone on twitter sent me a link to this. is this about my situation? because if it is let me say to "boneslf" if he is the correct person, i don't know a goddam thing about computers let alone the "tiny bit of programming knowledge and keyword knowledge to make money" scamming google products. let me be clear about that. and also "jellicle" makes my point exactly and so do a few others on here. also, i've sent…

I can't help but point out that you're not the real thomasmonopoly, even though you sound like as much of an imbecile.

ahahaha. ok. yeah. there are tons of us all pretending that we don't have the same profile. even saying that is confusing.

and the thing about anonymous in my building is very true, look it up. bushwick bk. ny post. i don't know the specifics. but i did have breakfast two days ago with someone who knew the tenants and let's just say i don't want to know and he didn't want to tell me what was going on.

Re: Google Deletes Last 7 Years Of User's Digital Life, Shrugs

#232

Post by thomasmonopoly »

ja27 wrote: post #38

It's a little old now, but I followed this and created a "backup" Google account a while ago, just in case. http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2007/12/creating-backup-for...

i'm not sure whether i think this is a brilliant idea, this system of creating backups, or absolutely pathetic for even needing to exist.

Re: Google Deletes Last 7 Years Of User's Digital Life, Shrugs

#233

Post by thomasmonopoly »

jrockway wrote: post #209
thomasmonopoly wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

also let me be clear that i don't think this is going viral because i wrote a poetic letter that tugged at the heartstrings of twitter. if you think that my story is going viral for any other reason besides google's completely crap user support you need to re-examine your approach to dealing with people. and if you need anymore proof of that please be aware that i signed up for twitter on wens night. and i do not kno…

It went viral because all you do is talk and talk and talk and talk, and people love hearing about other people with problems. A "look at that poor sap, I'm better than him," kind of thing. But anyway, we would appreciate it if you didn't start spamming HN with this story. We know the details. We know you're upset. We don't really care. If you must comment, one comment per threading level, please. Don't reply to the…

hey, pal, i didn't start this conversation. someone sent me a link to it from twitter after it was well under way. you don't like it, don't read it. i'm doing my best to not respond to all the ignorant stuff about me on here, but certain things need to be clarified. and this isn't about me. get over yourself and see this bigger picture and how many are effected and they don't even realize it. you're safe, great. you're the one who owns their own server and squirrels all of their data away on it each night. the VAST majority of people do not.

Re: Google Deletes Last 7 Years Of User's Digital Life, Shrugs

#234

Post by drewvolpe »

Matt_Cutts wrote: post #227
drewvolpe wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This doesn't include the most important service: GMail.

I believe Takeout launched with Google+, so it's geared toward data in Google+ (at least initially). Here's a post I did about backing up data in Gmail a while back: http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/backup-gmail-in-linux-with-get... This post has info about backing up other data from a Google account: http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/not-trapping-users-data-good/

This is from your post on how to do a backup:

== ...Gmail will only let you down a few hundred emails at a time. You can repeat the command (let getmail finish each time before you run it again) until all of your email is downloaded. ==

You honestly expect users to fetch of their mail a few hundred messages at a time ?

You also leave out the fact that if you re-run that script a number of times in a row, Google's server's will block you until you fill out a captcha and wait 24 hours.

GMail is a free service, so having limited features and options is expected. But it's troublesome that Google doesn't feel it has an obligation to respect its user's data. An admin you're not allowed to contact thinks you violated the terms and all of your mail is deleted. Business contracts, random chats with cute girls/boys from school, messages from family and friends who might not be here anymore, ... all of it is gone.

Re: Google Deletes Last 7 Years Of User's Digital Life, Shrugs

#235

Post by [deleted] »

Matt_Cutts wrote: post #113
white_devil wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> FWIW Not much. They're only doing damage control. I wonder whether Matt Cutts is on holiday or something, by the way..

I talked to the person with this complaint, then looked into it myself. The account was suspended for a violation of our Terms of Service. After digging into the situation, my personal opinion is that Google took appropriate action. I'm sorry that I can't go into more detail.

[deleted]

Re: Google Deletes Last 7 Years Of User's Digital Life, Shrugs

#236

Post by RangerSix »

slam00 wrote: post #219
fozzymandias wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting that I am being accused of "samefagging" just because I seem to be on another person's side and am making somewhat wild assertions about what might have happened. I'm not an HN user typically because I'm ignorant of most of the stuff you guys find interesting, I found this thread linked from reddit and when I saw that ThomasAlexander's building had allegedly been raided by the FBI going after Anon, I…

Hi RangerSix!

. . . are you fucking kidding me.

Re: Google Deletes Last 7 Years Of User's Digital Life, Shrugs

#237

Post by sayrer »

zem wrote: post #88
sssparkkk wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

His reply gives me the shivers, partly because I'm afraid I won't be able (if I were ever to be locked out) to generate enough attention to warrant a response by Vic himself. But mostly because of the incredibly reassuring way he chose to word his response: "You bet on Google. We owe you better. I'm investigating."

that's refreshingly direct and personal in tone.

yeah, it really is.

Re: Google Deletes Last 7 Years Of User's Digital Life, Shrugs

#238

Post by shandrew »

1880 wrote: post #89
mikle wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This made me concerned. I have my own domain which indeed uses Google Apps, but I just forward all my mails from there to my @gmail.com account. This needs to switch.

But you own your domain. In your case, if Google disabled your Gmail or Apps accounts, it'd be just a minor annoyance, because your e-mail address would still work after a DNS change. Google owning your data is not the problem here, while you can backup it. The real problem is them owning your identity.

Do you really own your domain? You're likely dependent on a registrar where you're probably a $10/year (i.e. nearly nothing) paying customer.

What if your domain registrar simply fails and loses your records?

The US government has been seizing domains associated with sites accused of violating laws; are you with a registrar who will fight that?

I'm not saying that you shouldn't own the domain for your email address--it's simply that you should realize that it solves one problem but creates others.

Once you look at things at detail, almost everything in your life is dependent on trust. Knowing how much to trust different aspects and how to evaluate risks is key.

Re: Google Deletes Last 7 Years Of User's Digital Life, Shrugs

#239

Post by jvdh »

drewvolpe wrote: post #222
Pewpewarrows wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can download your data from Google anytime: http://www.google.com/takeout/ When you sign-up for a Google account, there's a little something called a Terms of Service you agree to. You violate them? You sacrifice all rights to any data you may or may not have on their services. That's something every Google user agrees to from day one. If you don't like that punishment, you shouldn't have signed up.

This doesn't include the most important service: GMail.

offlineimap.org ?
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