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Tell HN: Google will delete inactive accounts

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Re: Tell HN: Google will delete inactive accounts

#21

Post by garyNeedsa »

paddim8 wrote: post #20
0xedd wrote: post #18

The amount of corpo brainwash in the comments is amazing: "If it's so important... jump through a hoop... and another... and another". Fact remains - Google is unique in its constraint. It gives no added value over competitors. Why accept?

Because it's still perfectly reasonable. You simply cannot keep data forever. At some point you have to start removing old unused data. It is just not sustainable. I don't agree with complaining about every single thing corporations do just because they're corporations. Let's complain when they do actually unreasonable things.

Downvotes are weird; reality is not a fractal. Humans die; is the future on the hook for fiat and resource costs to store our cat photos?

Religion and longtermer philosophy get thought and agency policing really fast. It’s funny it’s often political traditionalists who seek preservation but refuse to point out the established socio-political norm that obliges humanity to specifically back up dead peoples hard drives.

Re: Tell HN: Google will delete inactive accounts

#22

Post by hsjqllzlfkf »

paddim8 wrote: post #20
0xedd wrote: post #18

The amount of corpo brainwash in the comments is amazing: "If it's so important... jump through a hoop... and another... and another". Fact remains - Google is unique in its constraint. It gives no added value over competitors. Why accept?

Because it's still perfectly reasonable. You simply cannot keep data forever. At some point you have to start removing old unused data. It is just not sustainable. I don't agree with complaining about every single thing corporations do just because they're corporations. Let's complain when they do actually unreasonable things.

> You simply cannot keep data forever.

I wonder if the data that they're collecting for targeting advertising is also being deleted, because you know you can't keep it forever, right? Oh that's right, of course they're not deleting that. Stop parroting corporate talking points.

Re: Tell HN: Google will delete inactive accounts

#23

Post by ottoludd »

The conspiracy theorist in me wonders if this is a means of preventing other companies from using YouTube videos to train AI. Google will have access to the whole of YouTube uploads, whereas the rest of the world will only have access to the videos that were uploaded by active accounts.

Re: Tell HN: Google will delete inactive accounts

#24

Post by prepend »

m00x wrote: post #13
Rebelgecko wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are people in prison allowed to sign into their Google accounts? I imagine they wouldn't be able to bring 2FA or even a list of backup PWs with them (unless memorized in advance)

Depends on the prison, but if you're in maximum security prison, you may have bigger worries.

Certainly you’ll have bigger worries, but you’ll have this one too.

Re: Tell HN: Google will delete inactive accounts

#26

Post by yomlica8 »

CTOSian wrote: post #25

btw , they mention a couple of exceptions to this policy, YMMV * Your Google Account contains a gift card with a monetary balance. * Your Google Account has been used to purchase a digital item, for example, a book or movie.

So can you send a small gift card to your accounts to keep it active?

Re: Tell HN: Google will delete inactive accounts

#27

Post by dangus »

0xedd wrote: post #18

The amount of corpo brainwash in the comments is amazing: "If it's so important... jump through a hoop... and another... and another". Fact remains - Google is unique in its constraint. It gives no added value over competitors. Why accept?

They’re not unique. I’ve had plenty of free account providers deactivate me from disuse. Example: Shutterfly

Don’t want your account to be deleted? Try using it or getting a paid service.

OP wants to use a bunch of gmail accounts for spam forwarding but they should get a proper paid email provider that supports aliasing.

Re: Tell HN: Google will delete inactive accounts

#28

Post by mantra2 »

amf12 wrote: post #15
Rebelgecko wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are people in prison allowed to sign into their Google accounts? I imagine they wouldn't be able to bring 2FA or even a list of backup PWs with them (unless memorized in advance)

> Are people in prison allowed to sign into their Google accounts? If it's so important to them, maybe their partners or family can login - or they can do a takeout and store their data in a hard drive. Who knows if Google services will be around when they get out, right?

> Who knows if Google services will be around when they get out, right?

Sometimes I am not even confident they'll be around tomorrow.

Re: Tell HN: Google will delete inactive accounts

#29

Post by nashashmi »

amf12 wrote: post #9

"The simplest way to keep a Google Account active is to sign in to the account at least once every two years." Not a terrible requirement. If they are so important to you, why can't you login once every 2 years. Why is it bad news?

In the old days,hotmail used to have a rule that you had to log in every two months. Going to army training meant you most likely would lose access to your emails after boot camp.

Gmail made it a generous 6 months. I don’t know when it changed to two years.

Re: Tell HN: Google will delete inactive accounts

#30

Post by paddim8 »

hsjqllzlfkf wrote: post #22
paddim8 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it's still perfectly reasonable. You simply cannot keep data forever. At some point you have to start removing old unused data. It is just not sustainable. I don't agree with complaining about every single thing corporations do just because they're corporations. Let's complain when they do actually unreasonable things.

> You simply cannot keep data forever. I wonder if the data that they're collecting for targeting advertising is also being deleted, because you know you can't keep it forever, right? Oh that's right, of course they're not deleting that. Stop parroting corporate talking points.

They keep that as long as it's useful. At some point they're going to have to start removing old data there as well, but it's probably mostly text and numbers. This is just pure whataboutism. Explain to me how keeping a ton of data forever is in any way realistic? How would you go about doing that?
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