

Another Google "abuse prevention gone wrong" horror story - mcantor
http://www.twitlonger.com/show/bt5akp

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michaelw
This guy has been creating a lot of noise on Google+ in the past day. Although
I have no direct information, the early signs are that Google is comfortable
about why they terminated his account.

In general I don't care about this guy. More interesting is the issue of "my
data" and "your service." I see this as equivalent to a landlord and a tenant
(no matter how little rent paid). The landlord can, under certain
circumstances, kick the tenant out. The landlord cannot under, any
circumstances, hold or destroy the tenant's possessions.

Longer post here
[https://plus.google.com/115878613002809583306/posts/WsWj4CEh...](https://plus.google.com/115878613002809583306/posts/WsWj4CEhaK3)

~~~
astrodust
What's the digital equivalent of leaving all your crap on the front porch?

~~~
michaelw
Nice one! :)

Pastebin or mailinator.com I guess :)

I can see it now, datafrontporch.com, an escrow service for data. Sign up now
for protection when, not if, your account is cancelled.

The cost of storing that data for 60 days after the account is terminated
would be minor.

------
netaddict
This link was posted here yesterday. Matt Cutts' comment:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2795465>

~~~
Matt_Cutts
Suffice it to say that many Google employees have looked into this, including
me. After digging into the situation, I agree with the action that Google took
in this case.

I also went and got Google's official comment: "For the privacy of those
involved, we don't discuss motivations behind account suspensions but we are
confident in our actions in this case."

I'm sorry that I can't go into more detail.

~~~
josecastillo
I think it would ameliorate a lot of the fear, uncertainty and doubt around
this situation if Google could answer the following question: Does the user in
question currently have the ability to extract the data he had in Google
services, and if not, will Google provide him with his data?

If there's no way to answer that question without compromising his privacy,
can Google at least share its policy on data liberation in situations such as
this, and publicize it broadly via the Data Liberation Front?

~~~
m8urn
Right, and this is what has caused millions of people to panic today and
realize that Google really can't be trusted with our data. If someone hacks
you and does something with your account, or even if you just do something
stupid, years of data is just gone like that with no explanation. Now to me
Google is just as unreliable as keeping all my data on a single hard drive
with no backup.

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corin_
Does Google's support system suck? Yes.

But these posts from people annoy me, because they really don't add anything
to the debate at all.

 _I did not violate any Terms of Service_

Maybe correct, maybe a lie, or maybe he just doesn't realise he did. We have
no way of knowing which.

 _your refusal to provide me with any proof otherwise makes me absolutely
certain of this_

If you weren't certain of this before they didn't provide proof, apparently
you're not too familiar with their ToS, maybe the original statement that you
did nothing wrong wasn't quite as definite as it sounded.

 _I should also mention that I am in fact a paying customer in so much as I
purchased my domain through Google and I have purchased additional storage
from Google._

What relevance is that to their shutting down other services?

 _I have been what you could call an enthusiastic supporter of Google as a
company_

Who cares? And frankly I would rather know that a company treats their
customers equally, rather than giving better support to people who boast that
they were early adopters.

 _I am absolutely furious that they would disable my account without notice_

Perhaps he's forgotten what he wrote in the second paragraph of this long
rant, which was _despite your automated message telling me your system
“perceived a violation.”_.

Screw it, bored of reading this now. Essentially, make the point that Google
support is awful, sure. But surround it by a whole load of drivel and
credibility is lost.

