This is one of the reasons I picked a small, dedicated email provider [1] over Google Workspace for my corporate emails. If Google flips out and ban hammers us for no reason, my company will still be able to reach clients and work on projects. Apple, Google and Facebook are way too trigger happy with automated bans and no recourse.
Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?
171–180 of 479 posts
Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?
#172Earlier quoted context omitted.
#2 doesn't scale. If you guarantee access to a human, the system will absolutely be effectively DoS'd by scammers trying to social engineer their way into access to someone's account.
Not if you require physical presence. If you have to turn up in person at a local branch office with identifying documents, then you've greatly limited opportunities for scams. Fraud is still possible but it doesn't scale.
That sounds vastly more costly since they'd have to open local branch offices everywhere.
Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?
#173A core concept here is that of ownership. People think they own their accounts and data. Stories like these, and unfortunately the law, make it clear that they don't own anything. I personally think it is false advertising of companies to even hint at ownership. Words like 'buy' shouldn't be allowed since it implies owning. They should only be allowed to say 'rent' or 'grant a limited license'.
I would rather the law make it such that you really are buying , than codify that you own nothing. The ambiguity isn't great, on that we agree, but why would you weaken the citizen's standing to remove it?
Should people really not have the option to not-buy if they see other advantages in it? Should the idea of ownership being valuable be imposed upon citizens? (And if we all accept that it has value, could that not simply reflect in a price differential?)
Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?
#174Would checking the Apple gift card balance first be a useful precaution? Would it have saved Paris all this hassle? Seems like this might be a necessary step if checking the balance would reveal there's something wrong with the card. Would be frustrating to see the $500 card is worthless but better than risking the bureaucratic hell.
Would that save him, or would checking a large fraudulent card be a heuristic that sets off the banhammer system?
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Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?
#175Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apple has created an entire programming language (Swift) as part of their "marketing toolbox". > genuinely serious about preserving user privacy Nope, not anymore. That ship has sailed and more revenue is to be made by harvesting user data
"Harvesting user data" doesn't make money. The reason people think this is that on HN people have main character syndrome that makes them think their personal data is interesting, plus an assumption that making money is evil therefore anything you can think of that is evil would make money. (Google and Facebook don't make money by "harvesting" or "selling" user data, they make webpages you spend a lot of time on then…
No, I think the reason people on HN think this is because Apple, Google and Microsoft have all been caught harvesting user data: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/12/apple-admits-to-...
Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?
#176I feel like all these articles are writing about the wrong thing. Yeah, it sucks that the guy's account got banned, and yeah, maybe we can't trust gift cards. But the truly troublesome issue is how an entire ecosystem of (very expensive) hardware is allowed to be tied to an identity controlled by a giant black box of a corporation. What I mean is: you can spend thousands and thousands on devices and configure them to…
This is something governments should really try to tackle, but I'm afraid that their solution would be a government ID rather than proper guidance and rules for these behemoths. The way I see it resolved is for Google and Apple to link the accounts to a physical person via government ID so that if you want issues to be resolved you'd have to verify yourself. This would also limit abuse by bad parties. Now, do you wan…
The way I see it resolved is for Google and Apple to link the accounts to a physical person via government ID so that if you want issues to be resolved you'd have to verify yourself. This would also limit abuse by bad parties.
It would be easy to fix this problem simply by charging a hefty up-front fee for direct connection to high-level human support, who will take the time to verify the user's identity using established KYC procedures and then take action to restore the account. The fee would then be refunded if the problem turned out to be on the company's end.
Companies like Apple don't offer that, because they don't GAF.
Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?
#177I've been using all of my macs for years now without Apple IDs. I use them only reluctantly on iOS devices to install apps, and don't use iCloud (it's a privacy nightmare). Relying on Apple to remain benevolent when the incentives are so misaligned is a fool's errand.
What do you use instead?
Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?
#178Every time a read a story like this, I feel an atavistic desire to self-host eveything. But I've had my Google account for 20 years now; the die is cast.
> But I've had my Google account for 20 years now Just realize this: the longer you play this game, the higher your odds of getting banned. Once it hit me, I quickly decoupled from Google. It's like playing satoshi roulette for 0.5% gains. You keep winning until you get fully wiped.
What do/did you do about other people having your Gmail address as a primary contact?
Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?
#179The answer to the question is NO. Unless you don't care at all about your Apple account.