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Google Cloud suspended my account for 2 years, only automated replies

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Re: Google Cloud suspended my account for 2 years, only automated replies

#11

Post by manquer »

notepad0x90 wrote: post #7

This is such a repetitious issue that I wonder why there has been no class action suits so far? I think documenting these cases somewhere, and targeting not just Alphabet but all the other "we're too big to support little people like you" companies would be a good idea. I don't think the pay out would be significant, but the punitive impact might change things.

OP is not clear , but it looks like GCP suspension not Google one (I.e email android etc)

All clouds reject a lot of businesses for their services for variety of reasons and there are alternatives in the market unlike say a Google account suspension .

I don’t think class action is feasible for cloud computing suspension (unless of course they are discriminating against a protected class etc)

Re: Google Cloud suspended my account for 2 years, only automated replies

#12

Post by throwaway150 »

unyttigfjelltol wrote: post #10
throwaway150 wrote: post #3

It's gone. No human will ever respond to you. That's how these companies operate. From here, you realistically have two options. 1. Forget the account and move on. You could create a new one, but nobody can tell how long it would take before that gets suspended as well. 2. If the suspension has a tangible negative impact on your profession, hire a lawyer and get proper legal advice. Most important of all, let this be…

> let this be a lesson for you and your colleagues. Nah, big tech infiltrates everything, it’s 100% their fault. Why did everyone switch to webmail? Why did we gravitate to web apps? Big tech persuaded us all to do it. With big promises comes great responsibility, and the stuff in the fine print doesn’t count. It’s not ethical to invite dependency and randomly kneecap people; it shouldn’t be legal either.

100% agree with you. The big techs are definitely 100% at fault. But you know, fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice...

I mean, we get these stories every month. Yes, 100% it is not ethical to randomly kneecap people. But let's be honest. Nobody is working on making these big tech companies accountable for the potentially devastating, algorithm-driven decisions they take. How many more times do they have to fool us before we all realize that it's time to move away from them?

All I ask from you, myself and all the tech folks here is to learn from these lessons and pass them on to everyone around you. With how things are today, it is reckless to depend on these big tech cloud services for your livelihood and profession. If you're working for a company where the company has leverage, all good. But as an individual, you should stay away from these big tech companies, because they can screw up your life any day, without warning and without recourse.

Re: Google Cloud suspended my account for 2 years, only automated replies

#13

Post by politelemon »

entangledqubit wrote: post #5
_drg9 wrote: post #2

I had my GCP quota algorithmically set to 0 after spending 6 months working with them to launch a startup. I went through a ton of hoops to get approval for our quota. We sent them system diagrams, code samples, financial reports, growth predictions, etc. It was months of back and forth. I'll also add that it was very annoying because they auto-reject your quota request if you don't respond to their emails within 48…

Has AWS support gone downhill in the last two years? I've worked with them in the past - as both an individual and a couple startups - I always reached a human. Issues weren't always resolved as quickly as I'd like but response times were short.

Working in small and medium businesses I've observed the same thing, and I've been quite satisfied with it. So I don't think it's really gone downhill, so GP's comment doesn't really resonate for me, but that isn't to negate their experience. Otoh I keep hearing horror stories about GCP and now I'm reluctant to try it.

Re: Google Cloud suspended my account for 2 years, only automated replies

#14

Post by jmward01 »

Cloud lock-in is real and requires a lot of forethought to avoid or at least mitigate. on the LLM side I have pushed my last two companies to always have at least 3 vendors for hosting and a system to fail over instantly or even load balance based on different criteria. It has paid massive dividends. I wish that philosophy was easier to implement at the cloud level for all services.

Re: Google Cloud suspended my account for 2 years, only automated replies

#15

Post by throwaway150 »

betaby wrote: post #8

> I am a CS researcher at UC Berkeley. This has seriously impacted my work. Can I suggest a topic for your next research? "Cloud exascalers and their negative impact on the society"

Not sure why this is getting downvoted. This may be snark, but this is 100% needed in the world we live in today. It is a fact of today's world that individuals have no leverage over these companies. I can understand why big companies, who have leverage, buy their services. But I don't understand why individuals, who have no leverage, buy their services and build their profession and livelihood around them. Any day, they can cut you off from their services. You are being irresponsible to yourself if you put all your eggs in these big tech baskets.

We seriously do need this kind of research and compelling articles that argue why relying on these big tech cloud services is harmful for individuals.

Re: Google Cloud suspended my account for 2 years, only automated replies

#16

Post by throwaway150 »

notepad0x90 wrote: post #7

This is such a repetitious issue that I wonder why there has been no class action suits so far? I think documenting these cases somewhere, and targeting not just Alphabet but all the other "we're too big to support little people like you" companies would be a good idea. I don't think the pay out would be significant, but the punitive impact might change things.

> but the punitive impact might change things

Call me cynical but I have little to no hope that even class actions would solve anything. These companies have become so big that they can take one class action after another for years to come without making a dent in their financials and without bringing any change to their operating procedures.

Re: Google Cloud suspended my account for 2 years, only automated replies

#18

Post by moregrist »

> I am a CS researcher at UC Berkeley. This has seriously impacted my work.

I would try to get help from your department. Somewhere within CS and CS-adjacent departments at Berkeley there’s likely to be someone with an official or unofficial connection to Google that can get you in touch with a human to at least clarify the situation.

Re: Google Cloud suspended my account for 2 years, only automated replies

#19

Post by vrosas »

_drg9 wrote: post #2

I had my GCP quota algorithmically set to 0 after spending 6 months working with them to launch a startup. I went through a ton of hoops to get approval for our quota. We sent them system diagrams, code samples, financial reports, growth predictions, etc. It was months of back and forth. I'll also add that it was very annoying because they auto-reject your quota request if you don't respond to their emails within 48…

Quota for what? In my experience the GCP service quotas are pretty sensible and if you’re running up against them you’re either dealing with unusual levels of traffic or (more often) you’re just using that service incorrectly.

Re: Google Cloud suspended my account for 2 years, only automated replies

#20

Post by vrosas »

politelemon wrote: post #13
entangledqubit wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has AWS support gone downhill in the last two years? I've worked with them in the past - as both an individual and a couple startups - I always reached a human. Issues weren't always resolved as quickly as I'd like but response times were short.

Working in small and medium businesses I've observed the same thing, and I've been quite satisfied with it. So I don't think it's really gone downhill, so GP's comment doesn't really resonate for me, but that isn't to negate their experience. Otoh I keep hearing horror stories about GCP and now I'm reluctant to try it.

Shitting on GCP is just popular on HN and always gets upvoted. AWS and Azure have royally fucked thousands of customers if you care to search for those writeups. My wild ass guess, considering posts like these have zero background details, is that they were careless with service account keys and their account got suspended for mining crypto or something. They also probably weren’t actually paying for support of any kind and that’s why no one is responding to them.
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