Google Bans Hundreds Of Pixel Phone Resellers From Their Google Accounts (theguardian.com)

Hundreds of Google users lost their access to their emails, photos, documents, "and anything else linked to their Google identity," wrote the Guardian last week, reporting on "hundreds of people who took advantage of a loophole in US sales tax to make a small profit on Pixel phones" -- and got all of the Google accounts suspended. Long-time Slashdot reader RockDoctor writes: "The Google customers had all bought the phones from the company's Project Fi mobile carrier, and had them shipped directly to a reseller in New Hampshire, a US state with no sales tax. In return, the reseller split the profit with the customers," the Guardian adds.

People might ask, in a hurt tone of voice, "why are you doing this to me?" To which the obvious answer is "because we can, and you agreed to these (link to 3000 pages of text) terms and conditions, including our ability to do this"... The only question has been "When?", never "If?"
Update: Google "has reviewed banned users' appeals and re-enabled their accounts," reports The Guardian.

Comments

Click bait much?

[rsilvergun]

this is already a non story. Google is reactivating the accounts so long as the users promise not to do it again. They'll flush out the shill accounts and give everyone else a smack on the wrist for doing something that's pretty self evidently wrong (scalping).

Re:Click bait much?

[JaredOfEuropa]

It certainly is a story. Maybe not because of the rights and wrongs of avoiding taxes or Google's reaction, but because this ought to serve as a wake-up call for anyone relying on an external party for important data or services, especially in cases when it is not easy or possible to switch services or retrieve the data. If the tems of service allow a provider to revoke your access whenever they feel like it, then do not put your data there. And even when that's not allowed under the terms of service, keep in mind that a company can go broke or simply suspend its service in any case.

Is this Soviet Russia?

[TimothyHollins]

Since when was it OK to break the spirit of the law? Is this some post-Trump perspective where tax avoidance is a virtue?

I can see the problem with Google acting as a vigilante, but taking the side of those that attempt to circumvent US law seems almost anarchistic. Surely "because it's not *technically* illegal" is a childish defense.

Ironic since Google ships their earnings elsewhere

[JoeyRox]

Google is penalizing these people who had their phones shipped to another state to avoid taxes yet Google ships their earnings to other countries to do the same thing.