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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

#321

Post by liveoneggs »

ohnoesjmr wrote: post #313
kemonocode wrote: post #309

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 ju…

What do you do when you already have history with Google? I use their OAuth whenever I can, all my accounts on the internet use the gmail address, most of my life is in gmail. Losing emails is not a bug deal, I can back them up, but losing Oauth accounts and ability to reset passwords for accounts I don't have a password saved in my manager is a bigger concern. Does anyone have any suggestions?

use multiple non-linked google accounts

never use an android device

Re: Google users locked out after 15 years' use

#322

Post by bachmeier »

cm2187 wrote: post #238
timvisee wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recommend to use your own email domain with it. If you're ever locked out or want to switch, you can easily switch while keeping the same address.

That’s what I do, along with running my own services. But either you run your own mail server, and the cost and complexity is prohibitive to most users. Either you outsource, and then all your data is still held hostage by a third party provider (though granted, any of the smaller players is likely to have some form of customer service).

If you use Thunderbird as your email client, you have all your data in an sqlite database on your computer, conveniently updated regularly throughout the day.

Re: Google users locked out after 15 years' use

#325

Post by subliminalpanda »

I've had a similar thing occur to me with Doordash. Went to Vancouver for a holiday, tried to order, got locked out of my account.

Multiple calls/chats to customer service said I violated their terms or service and would not tell me which term and the account remains unrecoverable.

Fuck Doordash.

Re: Google users locked out after 15 years' use

#326

Post by [deleted] »

megous wrote: post #314
beowulfey wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google is huge and they run a vast portion of the internet now. If they were to suddenly decide that all FastMail accounts should go to spam tomorrow, any users of FastMail would be SoL—they would be unable to communicate with a huge majority of the internet. They could decide to randomly throw every 5th email that is not a gmail into spam and blame it on other providers having low reliability. Make it random enough…

That would backfire spectacularly, and would probably kill gmail.

[deleted]

Re: Google users locked out after 15 years' use

#327

Post by uberswe »

TheChaplain wrote: post #3

Tip: Get your own domain from a non-google registrar, then connect to Gmail if you prefer. If you ever are locked out, you can just move the address to another email-provider. Another trick is to use always have forwarding enabled in Gmail, to Outlook.com or another provider. All email will be forwarded despite your account being locked, so you will not miss out on important info. And use Google Takeout for backing u…

I do this but there are pros and cons to every solution. I once forgot to renew a domain and let it expire completely. It wasn't one that I used very often but a few accounts used it and someone else registered the domain. Now they could very easily gain access to my accounts if they wanted to before I get around to fixing it.

Re: Google users locked out after 15 years' use

#328

Post by Cthulhu_ »

javagram wrote: post #285
ksec wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is why I want something like Time Capsule for our Smartphone ( iOS or Android ). >Roughley lost data including emails, photos, documents and diagrams that he had developed for his work. "My account and all its data is gone," he said. Imagine all your photos were in Google Photos and you cant get it any more because you have somehow violated their policy? All the beautiful memories of your boy or daughter when th…

I have a quarterly reminder set up in my iphone reminders app. Whenever it goes off, I login to Google Takeout and trigger a full download of my data. I then download the file and put it on the hard drive of my computer, which is itself backed up to multiple hard drives via apple time machine (I have one drive i leave always plugged in, and one I plug in during the quarterly sync and then unplug for protection agains…

Thanks, I've set it up myself. Most of my Google data isn't really important, but my gmail is super important and it's the backup address for dozens if not hundreds of services.

Re: Google users locked out after 15 years' use

#329

Post by MaxBarraclough »

jart wrote: post #25
manigandham wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you have millions of dollars or millions of users to back you up.

You are not helpless as an individual. If the company wrongly disables your account and leaves you no other option, you are well within your power to fill out some paperwork and file a lawsuit. It should cost you $10k just to respond.

Does it change things if you aren't paying the provider for the service?

Re: Google users locked out after 15 years' use

#330

Post by etimberg »

An article a few years ago triggered me to do this. I switched to Migadu based on a recommendation I found here on HN.

It works reasonably well and my only complaint is that the spam filter is overzealous at times. Another pain point has been services where I cannot switch my email and those are stuck on gmail for now.

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