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Thanks HN: Lessons learned after Google nearly killed my site

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Re: Thanks HN: Lessons learned after Google nearly killed my site

#121

Post by dehrmann »

aboringusername wrote: post #41

Anyone who thinks this is the functioning of a "normal" internet is mistaken. This is a symptom of a decades-in-the-making problem. It strongly appears those in charge of legislation are not technically minded and have no idea "how" the internet works. Or they do and they have data-sharing agreements with all the 'big tech' software and are okay to "appear" to legislate but cannot actually change anything substantial…

> How long before Google's algorithm results in an actual human death? Doesn't seem totally far fetched and entirely plausible.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube_headquarters_shooting

Re: Thanks HN: Lessons learned after Google nearly killed my site

#122

Post by ghaff »

MeinBlutIstBlau wrote: post #116
davidmurdoch wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't access my 13+ year old gmail account because Google now requires I verify I have access to a phone number I've never owned. There is no 2FA on this account, I know my password, and have access to the "Recovery Email" (which gets emailed a "Somebody knows your password" warning whenever I attempt to sign in to the account with my password). I reached a real person at Google Domains and managed to get things es…

I can't access my flickr account because it's tied to a Yahoo account which won't let me access unless I know the 2nd Yahoo account email address 2fa which is blurred out and yahoo won't let me access it because it's been locked even though I know all the info.

Flickr is no longer associated with Yahoo. It's owned by Smugmug. Even if you can log into Yahoo that probably won't give you access to Flickr any longer. (Smugmug also cut back significantly on what Yahoo provided for free accounts.)

Re: Thanks HN: Lessons learned after Google nearly killed my site

#124

Post by maddyboo »

davidmurdoch wrote: post #76
martin_a wrote: post #20

> But there are plenty of Google engineers and good helpful people on Hacker news. > (from a screenshot) I work at Google [...] so I escalated your issue [...] > I believe the HN thread getting on the homepage tremendously helped me and somebody from Google saw it and expedited the review after all So, once more an issue with FAANG could only be fixed because somebody knew somebody else and went out of his way to get…

I can't access my 13+ year old gmail account because Google now requires I verify I have access to a phone number I've never owned. There is no 2FA on this account, I know my password, and have access to the "Recovery Email" (which gets emailed a "Somebody knows your password" warning whenever I attempt to sign in to the account with my password). I reached a real person at Google Domains and managed to get things es…

Same thing happened to a Bitbucket account of mine. I know the email and password, but the primary email is under a domain I lost access to. At some point, Bitbucket decided I needed to verify my email in order to sign in. Support was utterly unhelpful.

Re: Thanks HN: Lessons learned after Google nearly killed my site

#125

Post by benlivengood »

jedberg wrote: post #64
alisonkisk wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the tort? Mcdonald's burned off a woman's labia after burning the flesh of several people with coffee tens of degrees hotter than is safe, and then refused to simply pay her medical bills, prompting a lawsuit. Has Google burned your labia?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tortious_interference They interfered with the contract OP has with their customers.

Nah, Google offered a free browser and the author's customers' and their customers chose to use it.

Remember all the "best viewed in ie6" or "only works on netscape 3 or above" banners? There has never been universal accessibility on the web. The dominant browser changes over the decades and it causes problems for everyone when one becomes too popular.

Re: Thanks HN: Lessons learned after Google nearly killed my site

#126

Post by matheusmoreira »

fefe23 wrote: post #32

Can someone explain to my why Google isn't being drowned in a torrent of lawsuits? We are getting stories like this on a weekly basis now. Google is clearly causing measurable harm to your company and you. And apparently to thousands before you. Considering how much money patent trolls manage to extract from Big Tech with considerably weaker cases, how is it that everybody is treating Google like a fragile grandmothe…

> how is it that everybody is treating Google like a fragile grandmother with dementia, going out of their way not to hold them responsible in court?

Yeah, it's a really good question. We got all these fully staffed insanely rich companies causing measurable harm to people. They just insist there's nothing they can do to stop it. Why does everyone believe them?

Re: Thanks HN: Lessons learned after Google nearly killed my site

#127

Post by heavyset_go »

MaxBarraclough wrote: post #107
heavyset_go wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This account "owns" digital goods, thousands of songs, and many domain names. Google is actively stealing these things, but they don't care and, "can't help". I long for the day that they cross the wrong person with means to take them to court over their negligence.

My very-much-not-a-lawyer understanding is that their legal obligations and liabilities are minimal on account of Gmail being offered free of charge. Anyone know if that's true?

Google incentivizes and encourages users to entrust and entangle important, and often financial, aspects of their lives with Google's services, and in exchange, Google gets to profit greatly by mining their data. They also charge users money for many of their services, too.

Re: Thanks HN: Lessons learned after Google nearly killed my site

#128

Post by marshmallow_12 »

matheusmoreira wrote: post #113
martin_a wrote: post #20

> But there are plenty of Google engineers and good helpful people on Hacker news. > (from a screenshot) I work at Google [...] so I escalated your issue [...] > I believe the HN thread getting on the homepage tremendously helped me and somebody from Google saw it and expedited the review after all So, once more an issue with FAANG could only be fixed because somebody knew somebody else and went out of his way to get…

You're not the only one who finds it unbearable. Google acts like they own the internet. They cause massive damage to people and businesses when they unilaterally block them. They compound that damage by refusing to resolve the issue unless people somehow manage to reach some insider.

>Google acts like they own the internet

They kind of do

Re: Thanks HN: Lessons learned after Google nearly killed my site

#129

Post by heavyset_go »

ghaff wrote: post #104
davidmurdoch wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually have the same issue with my Apple account I used back in the ipod days; they are now requiring that I answer my security question during log in. But I actually don't remember the answer to the security question, as I used to always put gibberish instead of a real answer. Back in those days these questions would only be used to reset your password, and I was confident I wouldn't forget the password. I've gi…

Furthermore, the answers to security questions aren't always stable. "What was your first pet?" Well, I know how I answer this question because one dog in particular I sort of consider my first pet. But I can remember dogs we had before that one so my answer is a somewhat arbitrary one.

By answering honestly, you also run the risk of having anyone that knows basic facts about your life being able to really make your life difficult.

It isn't just people you cross paths with that could get into those accounts, it's scammers that want to social engineer you or have access to the numerous database leaks that are accessible to anyone with the Tor Browser installed.

The answers to security questions are essentially passwords themselves, and they should be treated as such.

Re: Thanks HN: Lessons learned after Google nearly killed my site

#130

Post by ttt0 »

jokethrowaway wrote: post #83
davidmurdoch wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't access my 13+ year old gmail account because Google now requires I verify I have access to a phone number I've never owned. There is no 2FA on this account, I know my password, and have access to the "Recovery Email" (which gets emailed a "Somebody knows your password" warning whenever I attempt to sign in to the account with my password). I reached a real person at Google Domains and managed to get things es…

I'm in a similar situation with Apple. I can't access my 10 years old account even though I know the password and control the email attached to it because I don't remember my security questions and I don't have my recovery email anymore. I probably put rubbish data in the security questions as they weaken the security of the account. Funnily enough that password leaked and someone managed to take over my account (I w…

> I reached Apple support but they're unwilling to help, they even refuse to nuke the account as a last resort.

I wonder, aren't they required to nuke the account under GDPR? It's probably tied to your real identity.

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