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My Google Workspace account suspension

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Re: My Google Workspace account suspension

#91

It's been [0] days since the last "Cloud provider banned me and I lost everything" article. Everyone who depends on the good graces of a cloud provider for something (not just Google, but Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, whatever) needs to at the very least, take a moment, and figure out what their plan is when they are suddenly banned and locked out permanently, without any way to contact the company. Does life just go on,…

"A guy on HN told me one time, 'Don't let yourself get attached to any cloud services you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner.'" -- Robert de Niro

Re: My Google Workspace account suspension

#92

Once upon a time at Google: The year was 2013, and I'd been selected to be among the first 8,000 people to get Google Glass. I had to go to Google HQ in NYC from my home in Virginia to get it and be instructed 1:1 on how to use it. I was given a toll-free phone number to call for support by a Glass expert, available 24/7/365. Not only did they answer immediately whenever I had even the smallest problem or question: I…

I bought the Google 3-pod wifi system when it first came out. There was an 844 number for support on the back. I remember calling it when I didn't understand something and got an instant pickup by support staff.

With this comment in mind, I just now called that same number with an instant pickup telling me they no longer take support calls at that number.

Re: My Google Workspace account suspension

#93
post #43

Using a Google Workspace Super Admin account for your non-admin day to day needs is similar to using your AWS root account instead of IAM users. In my experience Google Workspave support is very good. I’ve always been able to get a knowledgeable person on a call to debug issues without much difficulty. But yea, if you’re locked out of your admin account, that’s another story. Very sjmilar to if you get locked out of…

So you're saying for a simple setup of 1 user, you really need to pay for 2 users. The admin account and the real user you want to use, which doubles the cost.

Re: My Google Workspace account suspension

#94
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Using a Google Workspace Super Admin account for your non-admin day to day needs is similar to using your AWS root account instead of IAM users. It sounds like the mistake here is not appointing another Super Admin, and making sure they don't use their account for day to day needs. Or just having two Super Admin accounts controlled by the same person, heh. I can't see how not using one's Super Admin account wouldn'…

Make a primary super admin (admin@ whatever) and only log into it for admin purposes. Make an actual user (you@) for day to day line of business work. This has the benefit of making some categories of spear phishing and xsrf attacks harder if the account that gets compromised doesn't have root.

That's what I've been doing.

It doesn't address this thread's concern that a single Super Admin could be locked out with no recourse, since Google's customer support is horrendously bad.

Re: My Google Workspace account suspension

#95
post #80

If a service offers "Login with Google/Apple/Facebook/etc" you should never do that if they offer a username/password. It just increases the single point of failure. Avoid places that only offer the "Login with Foo" if at all possible (looking at you Tailscale). As an ex-googler, the only reason I was comfortable keeping even my personal email there was because I could reach out internally if there was a problem. I l…

Tailscale offers custom SSO for free

Re: My Google Workspace account suspension

#96
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are correct. I agree 100%. It's easy to be great when it's on a tiny scale.

Billions in profit may unblock scaling customer support beyond scrappy startup minimums However (and I loathe this logic) if you can get the marketplace to accept that minimal level, and the brand harm is inconsequential, why not pocket the savings

> and the brand harm is inconsequential

That's the thing though. Google have destroyed their brand through these kinds of actions, over many years.

Re: My Google Workspace account suspension

#97
post #44

I recently had to go through the recovery flow for an admin account and it was wild. Despite Google manually unlocking the account and giving me a reset link, every login was forced to authenticate via SMS using the (removed) phone number. Luckily I was able to get a hold of it and get the code, but even after adding a TOTP and security key 2FA, further logins still required SMS. It feels like the security team made…

Google enabled 2FA on my Gmail account without any prior notice. I have the username, password, recovery email, and all emails from the account are forwarded to my Fastmail, but I can't ever log into the account again because it is trying to do 2FA by SMS to a number I don't have. I've tried everything to find someone inside Google to fix this, but so far no luck. At least with Meta you can find someone on a forum li…

> At least with Meta you can find someone on a forum like Swapd who will take a small bribe ...

That sounds like its own kind of problems. (!)

Re: My Google Workspace account suspension

#98
post #33
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny because I have dyslexia and read excreting power as exerting power, and then had to read your "Exerting" underneath 4 times to understand the mistake. I guess it's the phonics, dyslexia is so weird tho, ha.

Hey do you have certain fonts that are better? I was working with a dyslexic student last week trying to find fonts that work better for his online classes. All the research pointed towards a handful that didn't seem to really improve processing for the student.

Was this one of the font's they tried?

https://opendyslexic.org

Re: My Google Workspace account suspension

#99

This should be illegal. Megacorps eat more and more of our life and regular people are increasingly at mercy of these hostile entities. They should be pushed more against. If we can't have proper anti monopoly splits like AT&T, then at least ways to prevent them exerting too much power are long due. If you provide an essential service, responsibility should match that.

There needs to be a law that every cloud-based service which has accounts for more than (say) 1% of population, must have a physical service counter presence in every major town staffed by an employee who must be empowered to resolve all account access issues.

Notice how phone carries manage to have a shop in every little strip mall, you're never more than a few miles from the nearest one. Google takes in far more revenue, can easily afford the same. Or they could even just partner with the phone carriers and have a staffed desk in every tmobile/at&t/verizon shop.

Re: My Google Workspace account suspension

#100
post #91

It's been [0] days since the last "Cloud provider banned me and I lost everything" article. Everyone who depends on the good graces of a cloud provider for something (not just Google, but Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, whatever) needs to at the very least, take a moment, and figure out what their plan is when they are suddenly banned and locked out permanently, without any way to contact the company. Does life just go on,…

"A guy on HN told me one time, 'Don't let yourself get attached to any cloud services you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner.'" -- Robert de Niro

To me, the action is the juice.
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