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Google Drive of historical footage locked and flagged as terrorist activity

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Re: Google Drive of historical footage locked and flagged as terrorist activity

#261
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If google really thinks he is a terrorist, which apparently they did, why on earth would they allow him to use gmail or android? It makes sense they would lock him out of everything possible. What we really should be asking is why is google examining user data at all. They should not be in the position where they can even find out who is a terrorist.

> What we really should be asking is why is google examining user data at all. Without reading into the details, I don't think that google arbitrarily examines all user files on Google Drive (and please correct me if I am wrong, but that's what I remember since the last time this discussion was had). Google only examines files that were shared with other users or were made accessible to others through a shareable lin…

> Without reading into the details, I don't think that google arbitrarily examines all user files on Google Drive (and please correct me if I am wrong, but that's what I remember since the last time this discussion was had).

They say that they process all of your data:

> To provide services like spam filtering, virus detection, malware protection and the ability to search for files within your individual account, we process your content.

They also have some weirdly specific claim about advertising, which I don’t trust bc it sounds like they’re mincing words:

> We don’t use information in apps where you primarily store personal content—including Drive—for advertising purposes, period.

Re: Google Drive of historical footage locked and flagged as terrorist activity

#262
post #5

> The added grievance to this is that my drive also included my own personal family photos and my current book on the subject I mean, how many times does this need to come up for people to learn the lesson? If you are storing your data with a third party, and you do not have an iron legal contract with this third party, then that third party can and will do whatever it wants with your data, including locking you out…

Is there a way to get a complete download of your data from Google? Maybe an online guide or something.

Drive alternative is simple enough with "cp -r" and your own bucket. For something like, Gmail and other services, it gets complicated.

Re: Google Drive of historical footage locked and flagged as terrorist activity

#263
post #5

> The added grievance to this is that my drive also included my own personal family photos and my current book on the subject I mean, how many times does this need to come up for people to learn the lesson? If you are storing your data with a third party, and you do not have an iron legal contract with this third party, then that third party can and will do whatever it wants with your data, including locking you out…

This should serve as a reminder that Google has been scanning the entire contents of your account for the past decade, and as usual (for Google), no human beings are in the loop to review the decisions made by algorithms.

Re: Google Drive of historical footage locked and flagged as terrorist activity

#264
post #5

> The added grievance to this is that my drive also included my own personal family photos and my current book on the subject I mean, how many times does this need to come up for people to learn the lesson? If you are storing your data with a third party, and you do not have an iron legal contract with this third party, then that third party can and will do whatever it wants with your data, including locking you out…

Yup.

If a service is free, you're the commodity that is being bundled and sold.

If a service is paid for, you're a Premium Commodity with Money that is being bundled and sold.

Re: Google Drive of historical footage locked and flagged as terrorist activity

#265
Daily reminder that you need backups

Daily reminder that online stored files should be encrypted (no bot would have found anything it doesnt like)

Daily reminder that google is know for this and should not be used unless for a third backup or something.

Re: Google Drive of historical footage locked and flagged as terrorist activity

#266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean the account lock-out was probably an honest mistake. The lack of support, however, is not - and is part of Google’s business model.

Hmm, Isn't this moving the overton window? Should we accept that they were viewing his data in the first place?

So much this. Host locally, and push encrypted backups to a cloud service.

Doing this will screw Google’s ability to optimize storage for identical files, which may drive up costs, but it’s the best way to ensure your data stays private.

Re: Google Drive of historical footage locked and flagged as terrorist activity

#267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally find a rip of the book online to drop onto my reMarkable then purchase it through some ebook marketplace. Now I have a DRM-free copy and the author gets their cut.

That's certainly noble, but it doesn't send the message that you're unhappy with DRM. You're ultimately engaging in piracy and at the same time not voting with your wallet. I don't see any alternative, but just wanted to make that point.

Eh, not really trying to make a point personally. Just want to read books on my reMarkable or whatever I want, really.

Re: Google Drive of historical footage locked and flagged as terrorist activity

#268
post #265

Daily reminder that you need backups Daily reminder that online stored files should be encrypted (no bot would have found anything it doesnt like) Daily reminder that google is know for this and should not be used unless for a third backup or something.

Couldn't agree more

Re: Google Drive of historical footage locked and flagged as terrorist activity

#269
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try explaining RAID (not just RAID0/1, but RAID6 and RAID10) to an average consumer and expect them to maintain their own NAS - that’s a bit too much.

RAID is overkill and bad designs can cause more issues than it saves. Two or more external-DDs, copied regularly per how much they are willing to spend time and lose data. One stored in some other place if possible.

A Synology NAS with RAID1 and a few terabytes is $400 to $500 including taxes. Seems pretty cheap for not having to back it up regularly. Although, the second location risk would remain.

Re: Google Drive of historical footage locked and flagged as terrorist activity

#270
post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you think if google really thinks you're a terrorist that they are obliged to go on supporting you? There's a big difference between having no idea terrorists use your platform, and actually supporting them by enabling those you believe to be terrorists.

They seem to be banning accounts that are clearly not terrorists. Also, I get there are some black and white cases here. But there's plenty of grey also. I imagine a lot of terrorist videos aren't posted by terrorists, but rather by some disenfranchised/angry person who hasn't done anything illegal.

Agreed. Intent is important.

Unfortunately, google clearly has stated they think terroristic acts are happening. Once you indicate that you believe a counterparty is engaging in terrorist acts, you mustn't support them. Quite a few people have gone for prison for a very long time because a fed or informant who had zero interest in actually carrying out a terrorist act, made someone believe they were. And all the prosecutor needs to show is that Google _thought_ they were aiding someone making terroristic acts, and the prison sentences could be lengthy.

Remember the legal system doesn't have much room for nuance when it comes to criminal conspiracy. Even if somebody else gives you all the tools to do something horrible and eggs you on to do it, you are responsible if you make any act whatsoever towards what you believe will have that end, even if the person egging you on is actually a fed who knows all along the act isn't meant to ever happen and in fact you were only presented with the idea that an act could happen on false pretense so you could be tricked into going to jail.

And this brings me back to my original thought, which is that google is pretty dumb for even putting themselves in the position where they have a very dumb system for deciding if they're dealing with terrorist material. Because it opens them up to huge liability that they wouldn't have had if they simply allow their users to exist in privacy.

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