It seems strange that Google wouldn't have a policy of issuing warnings, escalating warnings, etc., before taking the drastic action of suspending an account. Without knowing the exact reason this person's account was suspended, for all we know it could be a complete glitch.
Dumped by Google
51–60 of 201 posts
Re: Dumped by Google
#52Cloud storage doesn't count as a backup if it is the only place you've stored your data.
It wasn't just stuff he backed up on google drive that he lost. You can lose your email account, possibly locking you out of any internet service that uses email as authentication, as well as any important emails. You can lose documents you made on google drive itself that you haven't yet downloaded. He lost his calendar, which I don't even know if you can backup. He also mentioned his blog and phone service and contacts.
The point is it's not just data that is lost and of what is, not everything is easily backed up on local storage.
Re: Dumped by Google
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
Unfortunately though, it's poor practice to let a user change their email address without first sending a confirmation email. If you don't confirm the action before making the change then bad people can lock out the true owner of an account simply by being logged-in.
Which is why everyone should have their own domain name, or have a contract with a reputable provider. It's crazy to cede over ones entire identity to a free "best-effort" service.
Identities and accounts are two separate matters.
Accounts can only be some of identity's credentials. You are not your email address (and you should never be considered so), but your email provider can optionally act as one of trusted third parties who can assert your identity. Not the other round.
Also, you can't really own a domain name — you can only rent it from your domain registrar, in almost a same manner you rent your email account. And the idea of paying for keeping my own identity somehow frightens me.
Re: Dumped by Google
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
Unfortunately though, it's poor practice to let a user change their email address without first sending a confirmation email. If you don't confirm the action before making the change then bad people can lock out the true owner of an account simply by being logged-in.
Which is why everyone should have their own domain name, or have a contract with a reputable provider. It's crazy to cede over ones entire identity to a free "best-effort" service.
> Which is why everyone should have their own domain name
Better never let it expire, though
Re: Dumped by Google
#55Same as every other “cloud provider”, yet somehow Google is the one subjected to these overwritten accounts and the almost mandatory pseudo law/policy musings that follow. You might want to take a look at some policies from others in the industry to get a more accurate picture of this landscape. These policies are constructed as such to mitigate litigation, which the author concedes. Regardless I'm glad this instance…
"Somehow"? What other "cloud provider" does John or Jane Q. Public use?
Apple iCloud, for example
Re: Dumped by Google
#56I think what's even more horrifying that isn't mentioned in the article is how many services use email as a form of user authentication. If you lose access to your gmail account, you also lose access to changing your password on any service that makes you do so through an email link - I know of some services that don't even let you change your account email without clicking on an email authentication link. So not onl…
You can always point your MX records at another server, if you have your own domain + gmail. Still sucks (and doesn't serve everybody), but it's an option if the worst happens to your account.
Re: Dumped by Google
#57Same as every other “cloud provider”, yet somehow Google is the one subjected to these overwritten accounts and the almost mandatory pseudo law/policy musings that follow. You might want to take a look at some policies from others in the industry to get a more accurate picture of this landscape. These policies are constructed as such to mitigate litigation, which the author concedes. Regardless I'm glad this instance…
"Somehow"? What other "cloud provider" does John or Jane Q. Public use?
Yahoo, Hotmail, Dropbox, depending on how you want to define "cloud," which appears to simply be a marketing term for "server."
Re: Dumped by Google
#58Same as every other “cloud provider”, yet somehow Google is the one subjected to these overwritten accounts and the almost mandatory pseudo law/policy musings that follow. You might want to take a look at some policies from others in the industry to get a more accurate picture of this landscape. These policies are constructed as such to mitigate litigation, which the author concedes. Regardless I'm glad this instance…
"Somehow"? What other "cloud provider" does John or Jane Q. Public use?
Dropbox
Re: Dumped by Google
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is a need to decentralize email, social networking, cloud storage etc. FreedomBox is a step in the right direction. So is Diaspora Project.
There is already an effort underway to decentralize email. It's called SMTP and works really well. I think they started it sometime in the 80s?
But it was again re-centralized in late 90s with the advent of hotmail and all. What I wanted to say was, we need to re-decentralize it.
Re: Dumped by Google
#60Looks like we may start needing cloud services to backup cloud services. That'd be an interesting service, particularly if it worked seamlessly in the background.
They've existed for a while. https://www.backupify.com/