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Google terminated our Developer Account, says it is “associated”

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Re: Google terminated our Developer Account, says it is “associated”

#181

Post by encryptluks2 »

ceejayoz wrote: post #140
encryptluks2 wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it is due to account level access. They tried claiming they hadn't been associated with them for 3 years but then admit that the developer had access to their account as recent as Dec 2021. Let's say this developer did something really dirty like stole user data and then Google finds out this developer still has app store permissions through this other company account. I think Google handles these situations…

An entire company shouldn't get wiped off the map because one contractor has been misbehaving on another gig.

I don't think the issue is that a bad contractor worked for the company but that they prob had admin permissions and were likely doing nefarious things with some APIs with those credentials.

Things like this don't ruin a company though. The company should immediately file an injunction and claim against both the developer and Google. They should have done that immediately. I think they have no clue or simply don't have the money to pay an attorney so there isn't much they can do. Heck an employee could steal all their money and unless they are willing to file a lawsuit there isn't much that anyone can do.

Re: Google terminated our Developer Account, says it is “associated”

#182

Post by izacus »

qwertox wrote: post #153

One of the comments on Reddit states that: > Develop for iOS. Apple has humans who answer phones and create support tickets and escalate issues and follow up and respond. Is this true? Because if it is, my next phone will be an iPhone and I will completely move into the Apple ecosystem and develop for publishing in the App Store instead of Google Play Store. Even though I don't do anything bad, these kind of news do…

We had a fun merry go round with Apples humans just copy-pasting policy answers and refusing to actually understand the issue as well.

They're not quite as bad as Google in this respect, but tying Apple chain over your neck for slightly less abusive system is a pretty Stockholm syndrome thing to do as well.

You can't fix this by paying corporations more money.

Re: Google terminated our Developer Account, says it is “associated”

#183

Post by jhgb »

freedomben wrote: post #171
kuu wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The main difference is that with your bank, in case you get locked out, you can call them or even go to a physical office where they'll attend you, and you, maybe, are able to fix this false positive case, even if from detection point of view is a justified one. For Google, good luck if you get in contact with a person.

Unless your bank account balance is at least $50,000, I doubt the bank will do anything about it besides have a manager tell you "I'm sorry there's nothing we can do" which is little better than an automated email.

That may very well depend on how regulated the banking industry is in your country.

Re: Google terminated our Developer Account, says it is “associated”

#184

Post by kayodelycaon »

qwertox wrote: post #153

One of the comments on Reddit states that: > Develop for iOS. Apple has humans who answer phones and create support tickets and escalate issues and follow up and respond. Is this true? Because if it is, my next phone will be an iPhone and I will completely move into the Apple ecosystem and develop for publishing in the App Store instead of Google Play Store. Even though I don't do anything bad, these kind of news do…

Apple does have human review. It's come up many times on HN during discussions of stupid rules.

We see few posts about Apple banning people with zero recourse and never reversing or reviewing the decision. Given how many people here are critical of Apple, the low volume of posts is extremely telling.

Google is on the front page regularly for this behavior.

Re: Google terminated our Developer Account, says it is “associated”

#185

Post by FpUser »

Car repair shop used to treat customers like shit and hold them hostage. It ended up with the government stepping in and requiring them to adhere to a certain protocols (like showing parts changed).

I think that Google has done enough damage. Government has to step in and smack hard in a teeth with a heavy fine and a requirement to introduce notices before doing any action (especially where money are involved) and mandatory appeal process with the human involved and obligation to answer direct questions (like giving detailed reason).

Re: Google terminated our Developer Account, says it is “associated”

#186

Post by Forgeties79 »

duped wrote: post #155
jahnu wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The algorithm banned our first company account. Nothing could get them to respond, including the appeal form. We want to switch now to professional and can’t despite fulfilling all the criteria they tell you need. I would like to see legislation forcing detailed explanations of bans though.

You can sue them, which is the normal recourse for disagreements between companies. Usually that starts with a letter requesting documents from your lawyers to theirs

“Just sue Twitter” is one of the more head-scratching comments I’ve read lately.

Re: Google terminated our Developer Account, says it is “associated”

#187

Post by [deleted] »

jahnu wrote: post #109
lima wrote: post #7

We need legislation forcing companies to manually review algorithmic decisions that impact people's lives - there has to be a proper appeals process. It's simply not economical for many companies to deal with the long tail of false positives, so they don't. Google has billions of users, and if their algorithms are 99.999% right about bans, their metrics look great but that's still tens of thousands users wrongfully b…

Microsoft have a better solution, or at least one of their departments does. You pay for support questions and if it turns out it’s actually Microsoft’s fault they refund you the fee. It’s great and most of the time I never had to pay. When I did it was still money well spent as I got good support. There have been a few occasions where I would gladly have paid Google/Twitter/Apple to answer my questions.

[deleted]

Re: Google terminated our Developer Account, says it is “associated”

#188

Post by hwers »

matsemann wrote: post #34
gentleman11 wrote: post #5

Googles dumb machine learning is destroying peoples lives and will continue to do so for decades unless somebody stops them. They control most of the internet and mobile space, it’s like having your water cut off permanently

I wonder if the devs behind these kind of automations ever stop and think about the ethical sides of it.

They select for sociopaths coding these things. If someone is able to be bothered by these actions, they won't last long or will quit voluntarily and someone more sociopathic will take their place. It's a problem higher up the chain of management.

Re: Google terminated our Developer Account, says it is “associated”

#189

Post by cortesoft »

frankfrankfrank wrote: post #165
lima wrote: post #7

We need legislation forcing companies to manually review algorithmic decisions that impact people's lives - there has to be a proper appeals process. It's simply not economical for many companies to deal with the long tail of false positives, so they don't. Google has billions of users, and if their algorithms are 99.999% right about bans, their metrics look great but that's still tens of thousands users wrongfully b…

I find it would be far more effective and faster to simply demand enforcing the Constitution (at least in the USA), while also enforcing competition and shatter all the cartels and de facto monopolies. If there were more competition, there would also be alternatives that companies like in the subject case could choose from and which would deter companies from making mistakes in order to prevent loss of market share.…

What aspect of the Constitution would apply to this situation?

Re: Google terminated our Developer Account, says it is “associated”

#190

Post by mijoharas »

anaccountexists wrote: post #177
GordonS wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a bad take - the person who violated ToS hadn't worked at the OP's company for 3 years! In addition, it hardly seems relevant that a ToS violation from an employee's personal account should result in effectively destroying a business. Something really has to change with how Google handles this kind of thing. At the very least they need to have a working appeals process handled by people .

That’s exactly my point though. If they hadn’t worked there in 3 years, why were they still associated with the developer account in the first place? There’s a couple of ways (that are best practices for any company) to avoid this problem: - Have separate Google accounts for work / personal use - Remove old employees from the developer account when terminated

I think that's actually the issue. There was no current association with the companies account anymore.

Having separate google accounts for work and personal use does not actually solve this, since google has an algorithm to figure out if the accounts are used by the same person.[0][1]

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30855682

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30855659

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