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Google users locked out after 15 years' use

businessinsider.com

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Re: Google users locked out after 15 years' use

#301

Post by Uberphallus »

GekkePrutser wrote: post #153
grandpoobah wrote: post #147

This article finally prompted me to do what I should've done a long time ago, which is to create a Fastmail account and begin importing my Gmail into it. I've seen this story far too many times, and no longer will I say "yeah but it'll never happen to me". Setting up the import was insanely easy, and my Fastmail account is now configured to enable me to send using my Gmail address from directly within Fastmail. Plus…

But even then you have to trust FastMail not to lock you out. Sure it's a paid service so less likely and I'm sure their customer service is better. But it doesn't fix the root issue of being dependent on one party.

Disclaimer: happy customer of FM for 8 years.

The single time I needed support from them, I was replied by a person that understood my problem and while they didn't fix it (it was a feature request) it was added to their backlog.

The suggestion appeared live like a year after and was contacted saying it was available in case I still wanted to use it.

From Google, on the other hand, I never got a human reply to any issue. The one that pissed me off the most was that my location history pre-2015 disappeared for some reason and I was using it to geotag old photos. No response, no acknowledging of the issue, nothing.

Re: Google users locked out after 15 years' use

#302

Post by mihaifm »

gsich wrote: post #180
TheChaplain wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is a hassle indeed, you need to set up SPF, DMARC and DKIM to at least have a chance to reach the inbox on gmail or outlook.

You also need a clean IP and PTR records.

Not necessarily. Static IP and PTR records improve the "credibility" factor, but it's not required. I'm running mine on the dynamic IP provided by the ISP, without PTR. Despite the warnings I get from the mail scanning tools, I can send mail to Gmail, Yahoo and the other major providers.

Re: Google users locked out after 15 years' use

#303

Post by thomasahle »

I had this happen to me once, though at a smaller scale.

I solved it by signing up to one of the bigger paid Google services (just a free trial) and using the phone contact they gave me to have my account restored.

I don't know if they would work if you're completely shut down like in this case, or if things have changed over the last years.

Re: Google users locked out after 15 years' use

#304

Post by plif »

hedberg10 wrote: post #252
plif wrote: post #182

This terrifies me. I recently signed up for Google One just to mitigate the lack of support if I were to lose access to my account. Perhaps the other thing to do is not comment using my account, which feels very wrong. All of the other options have drawbacks too. With Fastmail or another provider, you're trusting another corp. Setting up your own involves a bunch of work and difficult to solve drawbacks like spam fil…

> With Fastmail or another provider, you're trusting another corp. You're trusting another corp that only handles your email. Not your photos, videos, notes, phones, thermostats, doorbells(?), security cameras, speakers, TVs, youtube income/career... China has a state issued social credit score. We have a social credit score via megacorps.

The email address itself is what's irreplaceable for me because it's tied into my identity at this point.

The other soft stuff is fairly trivially backed up and not locked in to any vendor. The devices would need to be replaced, which would be annoying mainly due to cost but would have no long term impact beyond that.

I get your point, but losing my email address would be orders of magnitude more painful for me than those other things.

Re: Google users locked out after 15 years' use

#305

Post by matwood »

howlgarnish wrote: post #240
g_p wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An interesting point here actually - number porting was viewed to be core to a telecoms service operator. They have to provide it free of charge as a cost of doing business. Perhaps we need similar for email forwarding - it's clear that the major email platforms (Google, Microsoft) can already handle mail that is simply deferred to another mail server (see partial cloud email transitions). Perhaps we need the same fo…

It's also worth remembering that number portability didn't happen on its own: incumbent telcos fought against it tooth and nail.

Of course they did. Who wouldn't fight for a huge moat around their business? :)

Number portability also helped unlocked competition between providers.

Re: Google users locked out after 15 years' use

#306

Post by bleepblorp »

koonsolo wrote: post #61
stiray wrote: post #30

Welcome to vendor locked-in world where you have willing-fully decided to become prisoners in exchange for few sweets that you dont really need. I hope you dont also own some google router or even better, "home security" device. This would make it a real pain. I am explaining this to people since the birth of gmail, but no one listens. Let me think for a moment, what would happen if google does this to me... [x] No g…

Let me explain what happens when my house burns down, taking along all my hardware: - I buy another laptop and install Linux. - I connect my Google, Dropbox (which contains google backups) and Github, and they contain all data I own. - I buy a new smartphone and connect it to Google Simple as that. And my house doesn't need to burn down for this, when I buy a new laptop or smartphone I do the same. Plus, all my email…

Let me explain what happens when you buy a new smartphone (or use a new, cookie-less, browser profile) and connect it to Google because your old phone doesn't work anymore:

- Google detects the new phone as a suspicious device and locks your account until you can authenticate using your old phone.

- You can't authenticate using your old phone because it doesn't work anymore.

- You lose all your Google-connected data.

You don't need a house fire to fall victim to Google; merely dropping your phone will be more than enough.

Re: Google users locked out after 15 years' use

#307

Post by sgc »

ctennis1 wrote: post #292
jandem wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I migrated to Fastmail a few weeks ago. I'm really happy with it and I wish I had done it years ago. Many features. The web interface and apps feel a lot faster than Gmail. Pro-tip: use a custom domain so that you can easily switch e-mail providers in the future without vendor lock-in. It's also very easy to add aliases in Fastmail. > Plus after the import is finished, it will still periodically bring over any new em…

Another protip: fastmail lets you alias yourname@yourdomain.com as anything@yourname.yourdomain.com. You can use this feature to create a unique email address for every service you sign up for. This is really handy for filtering to folders, or blocking marketing spam.

If you set up your valid emails as *@yourdomain.com, you can also use unlimited foo/bar/bas@yourdomain.com.

Re: Google users locked out after 15 years' use

#308

Post by fullstop »

_jjca wrote: post #60

This is genuinely scary. Photos, Yale locks, Fi, WiFi and Nest thermostat can all be poof gone because I made a silly YouTube comment? How is this not regulated? Google photos also 'helpfully' offers to delete your uploaded photos with 'some guarantee'!!! If this isn't an indication of a giant shitty monopoly that doesn't care about its customers at all, I don't what is. They have some AI ML fucking crap but can't fi…

I got gmail accounts for my kids after they were born. My youngest, 12, attempted to sign in from a Windows PC in our house and was told that they could not verify that it was her.

Keep in mind, this is the same public IP address that we've had for ages. I am the recovery contact for the account since she is a minor, and have filled out the forms several times now, even giving the exact date and the "verification code" from when the account was created. We are now stuck in an endless loop.

She can still access her account from a macbook and from a linux desktop, but I fear once she is signed out that she will be locked out forever.

All of my important stuff (finance, etc) is in protonmail now, and I'm happy that I made that move.

Re: Google users locked out after 15 years' use

#309

Post by kemonocode »

A good start would be to require by law from Google and similar other companies to actually give a reason for an account suspension, having to potentially put a real human on the line ought to bring them pause and ensure there are less frivolous suspensions.

That said, the real answer is, of course, to migrate to a domain name you do own and a provider that's not known for suspending accounts willy-nilly, I'd stop just short of being your own provider, given how difficult it may be to get things right.

Re: Google users locked out after 15 years' use

#310

Post by sdoering »

ctennis1 wrote: post #292
jandem wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I migrated to Fastmail a few weeks ago. I'm really happy with it and I wish I had done it years ago. Many features. The web interface and apps feel a lot faster than Gmail. Pro-tip: use a custom domain so that you can easily switch e-mail providers in the future without vendor lock-in. It's also very easy to add aliases in Fastmail. > Plus after the import is finished, it will still periodically bring over any new em…

Another protip: fastmail lets you alias yourname@yourdomain.com as anything@yourname.yourdomain.com. You can use this feature to create a unique email address for every service you sign up for. This is really handy for filtering to folders, or blocking marketing spam.

Still on the G-Train. While I am thinking about migration back to my own hosted versions, I currently do this with Google Groups. I have many groups (amazon@..., newsletter@..., spam@...) for many different use cases. Though I have not yet created a catch all...

This thread prompted me to dig into it and I found a blog posting describing the process [1]. Will try this - while still digging deeper into the migration topic.

[1]: https://robbettis.com/blog/setting-a-catchall-email-for-g-su...

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