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An Example of a Sad Google Account Recovery Failure and Its Effects

lauren.vortex.com

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Re: An Example of a Sad Google Account Recovery Failure and Its Effects

#91

Post by Tozen »

swang wrote: post #2

I have a very old account that I still use for some email forwards to my main account. Even though I can verify all the other requirements, since I haven’t logged into that account with a machine it recognizes that I still have, apparently I will never be able to log into the account. Literally nothing can be done because google would rather take the easy way to handle this.

Actually, there are opinions that Google exploits locked out accounts, to extract and sell all of its data (to include gov't organizations). It appears while the person still has access to the account, there are limits to how Google can exploit the data it contains.

When the account is locked out, after a set period of time, Google can do whatever it wants with such data without limitations. The number of locked out accounts, in which Google has and could totally and fully exploit, is likely staggering and beyond what many can imagine.

Re: An Example of a Sad Google Account Recovery Failure and Its Effects

#92

Post by Tozen »

istillwritecode wrote: post #74

I fully expect to someday lose access to my gmail account because I regularly delete cookies and I won't give them a phone number. If they won't accept a password as proof of ownership on an account, then the account will someday be dead.

Part of the issue is the account is not dead, in the way many people think. Once you are locked out, after a period of time, Google can do what it wants with it. Which may include looking over or extracting any data from it, then selling it to whoever they like. And where those other entities may be storing your information (or continuously updating a profile about you), for their purposes and however long they like.

So the account is "dead" to you, but not necessarily to Google or at least not until they extract what they want from it (and have sold it to whoever).

Re: An Example of a Sad Google Account Recovery Failure and Its Effects

#93

Post by Double_a_92 »

saagarjha wrote: post #18
greatgib wrote: post #15

The worst in all of that is that when it is for nefarious purpose, like government access or spying, they don't have issue to have an employee giving access...

I wonder if GDPR, etc can require Google to hand you your data back even if you can’t access the account.

We seriously need some stronger consumer-protection laws in those areas. We live in a digitalized World. To some degree those accounts are a part of peoples lifes! Companies should not be able to simply take those away without any good reason and any way of legal recourse.

Re: An Example of a Sad Google Account Recovery Failure and Its Effects

#94

Post by ericathegreat »

franciscop wrote: post #32

> I recognize that there are many different kinds of google users. Some folks [...] need maximum security. (un?)fortunately this is not exactly true. While it's true that some folks do need "extra security", the steps in discussion here are fortunately still applicable for the general population. We as a society have decided (correctly) that leaking your private photos, conversations and data is an unacceptable risk,…

This class of users is also some of the most easily scammed.

These folks, who need "less security", are the exact same who will tell a stranger their password over the phone simply because they said they worked for Google. Scammers can use data from an email account to write convincing fake communications that lead to folks losing their life savings.

Teaching folks that their data isn't important enough to turn on security, is teaching them to fall into scammer's traps.

Re: An Example of a Sad Google Account Recovery Failure and Its Effects

#95

Post by saagarjha »

qmarchi wrote: post #38
bananasmarties wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You most certainly can and they have to provide you the data. GDPR is about you as an individual and the login itself is irrelevant. Chances are you'd most likely hit the same wall when talking to the customer support.

legal@ is a great way to talk to a real human.

Well it’s also a great way to never get a response again until you meet them in a courtroom :(

Re: An Example of a Sad Google Account Recovery Failure and Its Effects

#96

Post by JimmyRuska »

I had a youtube account JimmyRcom with about 21 million total views, I already had 2 stikes already from bogus copyright strikes I never appealed, over 15 years or so. I updated my videos with coinbase referral links. It got picked up as spam and I had my youtube deleted. This also meant the years of favorites, collections, my kids favorites got deleted. All appeals failed. I offered money for a blocked youtube but I get my favorites back. Still wish I could get it back, it hurt quite a bit losing everything. After my kids finally get into school, and the corporate grind cooled down a bit I really wanted to get back making videos

Re: An Example of a Sad Google Account Recovery Failure and Its Effects

#97

Post by mk67 »

Nextgrid wrote: post #34
saagarjha wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if GDPR, etc can require Google to hand you your data back even if you can’t access the account.

In theory yes, in practice Google will stonewall you just as usual and none of the regulators is interested in enforcing the GDPR enough to get this pushed through, so in practice you're still out of luck. Here's a real-life example: https://ruben.verborgh.org/facebook/

Very interesting anecdote. Is there a conclusion to the story?

Re: An Example of a Sad Google Account Recovery Failure and Its Effects

#98

Post by [deleted] »

sho wrote: post #62
saagarjha wrote: post #20

> They’ve all basically hit the brick wall of Google suggesting that at their scale, nothing can be done about such “edge” cases. The thing is that at scale your “edge” cases are still millions of people. Companies love the benefits that come from scale, like having a billion people use their service, but they never seem to be capable of handling the other parts that come with it :(

What I don't understand is why there isn't some kind of paid escalation option. I fully understand why they don't provide free human support for a billion unpaid users, but couldn't there be a $50 "OK, we will actually take a look at your issue" option? Surely that wouldn't be a money loser. Hell, you could outsource it. It seems instead that they just don't even want to touch it.

[deleted]

Re: An Example of a Sad Google Account Recovery Failure and Its Effects

#99

Post by Croftengea »

madaxe_again wrote: post #90
justin_oaks wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the case of a free GMail account, the user who doesn't get the support they need can get a full refund. In all seriousness, how does it even make sense to regulate expensive customer support for a free product? If you do, you may not have any free products anymore. But perhaps we'd be better off having decent customer support with no free products. As for paid products, it does make some sense to have some minimum…

Gmail is not free. You may not be paying for it with cash money, but you are paying for it with your privacy, and you’d better believe they profit from having your data.

Exactly. And Google is very quick to kill free products that are not generating good revenue for them.

Re: An Example of a Sad Google Account Recovery Failure and Its Effects

#100

Post by thinkingemote »

CatWChainsaw wrote: post #49
neilv wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When Google was first starting, savvy techies were aware of aggressive sociopath companies (e.g., Microsoft), and also that Google would probably be very powerful. Maybe Google had some of that savvy and that's why they instituted "Don't Be Evil". With all the supposedly smart people and resources that Google has, you'd think they could somehow figure out how not to be the cause of marginalizing people while dismissi…

"Don't be evil" was /killedbygoogle too :)

In a somewhat underhand way, they removed the motto from the company and moved it onto their employees. Something like "Googlers shouldn't do evil". I'm sure HR and the legal teams preferred this shift from corporate mission to employee guideline. This might or might not be completely unconnected with subsequent high profile stories of Google employees being sacked on ethical, labor organisation and culture war grounds.

Its possible there's more of a business reason. Was it in response to censorship in repressive countries, or a response to concern about tracking, data etc.

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