Thanks HN: Lessons learned after Google nearly killed my site • Hacker News Board

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

#31

Post by superzamp » Sat, Mar 06, 2021, 6:31 PM UTC

ttt0 wrote: post #18

They can remove your YouTube account, app, entire Google account or even your website at any time and you can only make guesses why did that happen, because they always make the rules really vague and it's never clear what is or is not allowed. And even when they do admit the mistake and get you back up, they still won't explain anything and nothing is ever fixed. Thank you Google, very cool.

At this point they, and other giants, successfully demonstrated that they cannot regulate themselves over these random terminations and that the public needs to step in.

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

#32

Post by fefe23 » Sat, Mar 06, 2021, 6:37 PM UTC

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 grandmother with dementia, going out of their way not to hold them responsible in court?

This is not a rhetorical question. I really don't get it.

America is the land of getting millions in settlement when McDonald's gives you coffee that is hotter than you anticipated. How the hell is Google getting away with their behavior?

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

#33

Post by gpm » Sat, Mar 06, 2021, 6:38 PM UTC

random5634 wrote: post #10

Quick notes: Site owner has not confirmed they screened all uploaded content for malware - this is a major issue these days and google and others will flag you if you host viruses and pump out malware. And no - you cannot sue google to force them to allow users to be infected. It’s not clear that all customer content is hosted on a separate domain, and each customer on a separate sub domain . Your reputation will be…

> And no - you cannot sue google to force them to allow users to be infected.

Has anyone tried, genuinely curious how this would turn out.

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

#34

Post by dna_polymerase » Sat, Mar 06, 2021, 6:39 PM UTC

As an aside, Google themselves use base64 images quite heavily. They are the kings of inlining.

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

#35

Post by pja » Sat, Mar 06, 2021, 6:42 PM UTC

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…

Because Google has set things be up so that they have no legal responsibility & even if they do it's an enormous legal mountain to climb to a) prove it and b) get any kind of reasonable recompense out of them.

Currently they have all the benefits of their monopoly with none of the responsibility which is exactly the way they like it.

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

#36

Post by alisonkisk » Sat, Mar 06, 2021, 6:43 PM UTC

LocalH wrote: post #26

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's fairly easy to acknowledge the the following are all true: 1. The poster was hosting malicious content from their domain (user uploaded no doubt, but still on the domain they control). 2. On one hand, it is desirable that people who are not malicious be given enough information as fast as possible to rectify their sites. 3. On the other hand, this same sort of information can make it easier for malicious…

> On the other hand, this same sort of information can make it easier for malicious users to evade detection I never bought that excuse. That sounds like saying we should be secretive about legal charges brought against a person, lest that information help criminals evade detection.

The difference is that computers can commit crimes thousands of times per second.

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

#37

Post by ttt0 » Sat, Mar 06, 2021, 6:43 PM UTC

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…

Probably something something along the lines of "private company and they can do whatever they want".

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

#38

Post by lrem » Sat, Mar 06, 2021, 6:44 PM UTC

alisonkisk wrote: post #30

lrem wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google does the silly separate domain dance GP recommended. I couldn't figure out what is it for, until I read this advice in the previous discussion. Disclaimer: I'm a Google SRE. But never supported anything reachable from the outside.

Google doesn't have a separate domain for Drive files, for example, nor do they have separate per-user domains under googleusercontent.com for photos etc

According to my Firefox, the JPEG file I just tried came from googleusercontent. But you're right, it's not per-user.

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

#39

Post by inglor_cz » Sat, Mar 06, 2021, 6:45 PM UTC

alisonkisk wrote: post #28

inglor_cz wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is really feudalism replayed. If you know important people at the emperor's court, you have a chance to get yor problem solved.

It's not "feudalism", it's human social relations and power dynamics.

Democratic societies try to limit this problem by establishing some semireliable channels to remedy injustice, though.

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

#40

Post by croh » Sat, Mar 06, 2021, 6:45 PM UTC

kemayo wrote: post #9

duckfang wrote: post #5

To be quite honest, this seems like a case of Libel and possibly Tortious Interference on behalf of Google/Alphabet. Especially if you can show damages/customers cancelling service, I think this would be a hill to die on. Google et al have too much power, even over people and orgs that aren't even customers. Its high time we reign their powers in, find them strongly culpable for what they do (and what they change and…

Based on what the article says, it sounds like the Google auto-blocking was correct . The website owner's theory is that someone used their demo to upload a genuinely malicious file, and presumably then shared it to others. Adding the site to their blocklist immediately is a reasonable action taken in defense of Google's users. It's certainly not libel for them to truthfully say the website is hosting malicious conte…

> Based on what the article says, it sounds like the Google auto-blocking was correct.

Even it is correct, we can't assume it will be always correct.

> As always with Google, the real issue here is their awful communication and slow responses to people who can't find a way to go outside the normal channels.

Real problem is their slow repsponse can kill business (or may be people). If they are yielding this much power, there must be atleast some paid support service. I guess, it is time, all govs should look into this and regulate FAANG.