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How Google Killing Accounts Can Leave Androids Orphaned
jfruhlinger writes "As we've heard in cases of pseudonym-users in Google+, or in the case of Dylan Marcheschi that went viral last week, Google can kill your account at any time — and since Google is keen on tying your account to its entire range of services, that means you could lose data stored everywhere from Gmail to Picasa. Blogger Dan Tynan examined one particular aspect of this problem — namely, the plight of someone who's been Google-executed and who uses an Android phone."
Why would you create an anonymous google account and then use your real name when complaining that it was deleted?
The bikini - security through obscurity since 1943
Thanks for testing...
Really? Putting all your data in the hands of a third-party means they could arbitrarily shut you out for whatever reason they want. Film at 11.
Isn't this the same issue as previously mentioned - only Google Profile services are affected by bans - GMail ISN'T one of those services and Android phones are (at most) tied to a GMail account in order to use the Marketplace ???
Seems like another dig at Google+ for no apparent reason.
From the article
"... found out why. A Google bot that automatically scans Picasa for illegal images flagged something Marcheschi had posted as child pornography. .....
It turns out that the image he posted, though admittedly disturbing, was not technically porn. In fact, he says his reason for posting the image – to a collection he curated called “The Evolution of Sex” -- was to make a point about how you can post images of minors being sexualized without breaking any laws. (Marcheschi says Google deleted the image, he has no other copy, and doesn’t remember where he found it on the InterWebs, so there’s no way to judge for yourself.)"
While I don't like the idea that google can delete your account, this is suspicious as anything to me. The fact that he also broke all traces of the image now kinda makes it suspicious to me. (Not to mention that its prolly copyright infringement too, but that's unrelated).
Coward Anonymous!
I think Facebook will end up benefiting from Google tying everything together under one umbrella. I can't speak for everyone, but I couldn't care less if my Facebook account got banned or closed. I primarily use it to socialize with some distant relatives and old classmates. It is not essential. If I lose my Facebook account it doesn't affect my email. Facebook doesn't track my Google searches.
Facebook may be a hated company, but at least they are relatively isolated.
It just doesn't make sense to put all your eggs in one basket. By using Google for everything you end up with a single point of failure.
Best-case scenario is that Google scares Facebook enough that Facebook improves their privacy controls and updates their friends lists to be more front-and-center like Google circles.
Google doesn't suspend Gmail and Picasa when it disables Google+ profile, only Google+ and unfortunately Google Reader gets suspended. And in case of Dylan - well, just don't put anything resembling child porno in Picasa, and you'd be ok.
So factory reset it and associate it with a different account. I do Android development and we do this as a matter of course to switch to different accounts. Am I missing something? What's the problem?
I don't like that my G+ profile shouts my real name everywhere too. So I was looking around in my profile, and guess what: There's a "Nickname" field in there - but the profile form explicitly says that it won't be shown in the profile. Why the hell are they doing that? Why have this field if it's not going to be used?
The dumb part is that Google could be fixing this problem in a much less disrupting way: Make the "Nickname" field actually useful, make it the default field shown for the public, or have the user setup if he wants the Nickname to be shown or his real name. Hell, if Google is so bent into real names, at least make the Nickname the field to be shown to the public, and the real name only to your friends / circles. What a waste.
If a guy is a lot older than you, make sure to always use his android phone when calling.
I'm glad my iphone isn't controlled by some mega-company... ;)
Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins, for they are subtle, and quick to anger.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, backup your google docs, gmail while you can... 'coz believe it or not even though I do not have Google+ or Adsense etc in last 2 weeks I've came across "Account has been disabled" screen twice while logging into gmail though somehow after waiting for few minutes both the times i was able log into gmail. And now I'm taking gmail and docs back few times a day to a folder which is being synced with Skydrive.
Gmail : http://www.gmail-backup.com/
Google Docs: http://code.google.com/p/gdocbackup/downloads/list
Google Takeout designed to help you move most of your stuff off G-services. The problem? It falls down badly when it comes to Gmail – probably the most important Google service for most of us.
The headline left me feeling rather sad. "Killing Accounts Can Leave Androids Orphaned" made me think of A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Instead of calling it "Google execution," how about simply "excommunication"?
I've been meaning to ask this, but how does Google know that my real name isn't "Pope Ratzo"?
Do they do background checks on Google+ users? Urine tests? Genetic profiling?
You are welcome on my lawn.
A few days back, a Google exec said that a Google Profile ban wouldn't affect GMail, Docs or other Google services. Only Google+ and Reader. Now, the Google spokesperson quoted by the article is saying that Gmail, Contacts and all other Google account services won't work. Which is it? Given that I have so much of my data in GMail, Docs, Reader, etc, the idea of being banned for my name not being "real enough" makes me nervous.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
Google has explained that being banned only from G+ does not ban you from other services
MYTH: Not abiding by the Google+ common name policy can lead to wholesale suspension of one’s entire Google account.
When an account is suspended for violating the Google+ common name standards, access to Gmail or other products that don’t require a Google+ profile are not removed. Please help get the word out: if your Google+ Profile is suspended for not using a common name, you won't be able to use Google services that require a Google+ Profile, but you'll still be able to use Gmail, Docs, Calendar, Blogger, and so on. (Of course there are other Google-wide policies (e.g. egregious spamming, illegal activity, etc) that do apply to all Google products, and violations of these policies could in fact lead to a Google-wide suspension.)
No IT director worth their salt would move their data out, when this can happen.
All the assurances in the world mean nothing, when you're basically at a third-party's mercy.
If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear.
I wonder if Google would ban people like Allen Stewart Konigsberg, Paul Hewson, David Robert Hayward Stenton Jones, Melvin Kaminsky, Cherilyn Sarkisian La Piere, Vincent Damon Furnier, Declan Patrick McManus, Terry Bollea, William Michael Albert Broad and so on for using pseudonyms....
(And after this brouhaha, to find non-google solutions for your phone data.)
Damn, this is the FIRST TIME I've wished I'd standardized on iPhones instead of Androids. Never heard of apple (or even MS) basically bricking phones.
PS: Google said they werent blocking entire accounts just Buzz and Google+ a fact is confirmed by some Hong Kong users here
smartphones as well as social networks, in the immortal words of Richard Stallman, "you are the product, not the consumer." so kindly continue your farmville farming, twitter tweeting, foursquare check-ins and placement of those to whom you relate closest into magnificent target demographic circles. the sausage factory doors are to remain locked for a reason.
Google and Facebook have a shareholder responsibility to ensure their product is of the highest quality, you see. in terms of produce, what google is doing is the equivalent of removing rotted tomatoes from their sales cart. So long as you continue to perform normally and consume regularly, there will be no problems. Champion no unsanctioned social causes, boycott no sponsors product, and subvert not the model afforded to you.
Good people go to bed earlier.
Google's bullshit and Apple's walled garden. What's the solution? Be like Jason Bourne: prepaid dumb phones, baby.
My brother, who is computer illiterate, got a smart phone. And of course they made a Google email account for him and he started having things sent to that, bills, tax return stuff and so on. Well since they set it up for the phone to remember the password he never ever used the password except for that one time and of course the phone company rep didn't have him write it down for him. and guess what the phone got reset so his email password had to be put back in. Since this was over a year ago and he can't remember the password he went through the password recovery routine without success. So he lost all his stuff. There is no one to call to talk to. The phone company rep said there is nothing he can do he only sales the phones and has no contact with Google. Not sure where this was going, but I really don't think that they or any service that is now a relayed on utility should not be able to cut you off. they have come to the point of being like electricity. They only cut you off after many warning (so I've heard) not one quick instance.
Paul: Father... father, the sleeper has awakened! - Dune
Google should at least allow people a couple weeks of read-only access to their stuff after they give them the boot. BTW, I use Chrome to get gmail offline but according to the article's author I'm doing the impossible.
with a script. Ex: bigpresh's perl script.
It seems that no one took Google seriously when they labeled Google+ as a beta project. The thing is still under construction and people are complaining that it doesn't work perfectly. Gee, I wonder why.
I'm not into the social networking stuff so I haven't bothered trying to get an invite, but representatives from Google have stated that Google+ deactivation shouldn't deactivate Gmail and other services. This Marcheschi guy didn't get his G+ account banned, the article didn't even say whether he has one, he got his main Google account banned for posting questionable pictures in Picasa.
In fact, he says his reason for posting the image – to a collection he curated called “The Evolution of Sex” -- was to make a point about how you can post images of minors being sexualized without breaking any laws.
So he set out to get his account banned and it worked. Then he publicly griped about it because he's an attention whore. Nothing to see here.
Anyway, what type of sick fuck wants to show images of minors being sexualized, legal or not? Apparently Mr. Marcheschi is fairly computer illiterate considering he doesn't know where to find a picture that was on his computer at one point. Or maybe he just knows no one would defend him if he actually made it public. After all, how is an image of a child being sexualized not child porn?
"From the depths of my skeptical and rationalist soul, I ask the Lord to protect me from California touchie-feeliedom."
I've actually wondered about this.
So what happens if I'm using a commercial/paid-for gmail account (or rather, in my case my own domain email hosted at gmail). Does it still get canned?
*Harumph!*
I'm going to send a nasty letter to Steve Case! ...er, I mean Mark Zuckerburg! ...wait, who's the asshole that designed these policies?
With an iPhone, you're less likely to default to using google services on an iPhone.
For all those commenting that something like this should be illegal, there is a legal standard at least in the US: anything you do with a good or service is only as valuable as what you paid for it. If you find a way to make a million dollars using a 10 dollar service, you can't sue for a million dollars when the service goes down, only 10 dollars. If you put your life's work of data into a free service, you are making a statement that all of your data is effectively worth zero dollars. If you backed up that data elsewhere, that data must be valuable, but it doesn't matter when Google zaps you, because you have backups. If you stored your only copy of the data within Google's service, your data is worth nothing, and Google is completely legally justified in giving you a refund of zero dollars. You are free to sue Google for every penny you spent on the service, and you will probably get that much back. If you don't like this, find a service that costs money and has a contract that includes monetary penalties if they kill your data or block your access to it. You'll be looking a long time, even among so-called "enterprise cloud" providers. Your best hope is to receive a pro-rated refund for the time period you had no access.
It was a middle aged man approaching to kiss a young girl.
The scene was completely ambivalent, it wasn't clear if the kiss was going to be a cast one in the cheek or a lascivious one in the mouth, also the age of the girl was difficult to determine, she was dressed a bit like a young girl, but was clearly sexually mature, she could have been a young looking 18 or 20 years old, the image was sexualized because her face denoted an understanding of the awkwardness of the situation. If I remember correctly her blouse was undone in the first button, but put in a different context I don;t think anybody would have raise an eye brow.
In all honestly I think only in a very conservative place such an image would have been classed as anything but something edgy but kosher.
". A Google bot that automatically scans Picasa for illegal images flagged something Marcheschi had posted as child pornography."
Frankly this sounds to me like something that would be impossible to do. Some of you here write software. Could you give a few inklings of how you would write such a bot?
It would be nice if Slashdot editors would run a post on this bot.
Hate to say it but I told you so: "Google+ gives just too much power to Google. They already own our search, our emails, our videos and many people have Android OS phones, but now they want facebook and twitter? What's left? What won't belong to Google if we all leave facebook and join Google+?"
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
The google account tied to my phone is completely unrelated to the google account that has my email/etc. What sort of crazy person wouldn't create a random google account when setting up the phone in the first place?
Ahhhhh.. I guess when Google revokes your account you'll ring up and complain using your pseudonymous name right!
You do not have to use pseudonyms, use your real name. For example John Doe might create john.doe and jdoe. Use one for an Android Market account and nothing else. Google has to allow duplicate names in account profile info.
I'm not clear on what criteria Google is using to close people's accounts. It seems that they are against people using fake names. OK, fine, but how are they determining that the name is fake? Do they first request that you prove your identity to them? What if my name has been legally changed to Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster? Will Google zap me out of existence without even checking if that's the name on my driver's licence?
His google accounts quit working. How the FUCK does that "brick" his phone and require a factory reset?
Hint: It doesn't and the blogger is talking out of his ass.
"If you store stuff only in the cloud you might lose it all if the service you used to store it decides so or fucks up".
In other news, the sun will still set tonight, and enough beer still makes you drunk, and I hear stuff falls down when you let it go.
In the parts of the collections that don't get shown publicly, various museums have quite extensive numbers of Greek vases showing mature men and their teenage male lovers engaged in very graphic sexual acts, complete with erections all around.
A Classical Greek scholar published a book recently, using such vases to refute would-be revisionists who claim that the ancient Greeks were not actually gay, but just speaking in metaphors.
when google torpedoed my account for no apparent reason, it was long enough ago that i only lost my google groups identity. very educational regarding the downside of keeping your data in the cloud.
Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.