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Android User Locked Out Of Google Accounts After Moving To A New City (itwire.com)
Slashdot reader troublemaker_23 shares a post from ITWire
An Android user has been locked out of his Google account apparently because he moved... The explanation offered by Google support staff was that since his address details differed, billing information with Google wasn't current and hence the user's purchases could look fraudulent... During his interactions with Google support to find out why he had been locked out, he was told that "It is our policy to not discuss the specific reasons for an account closure"...
He was initially directed by Google staff to a site where he had to scan his driver's license and credit card and told that he would have to wait 24 hours to get his account unlocked. But after this time passed, he was told that the account would not be unlocked and Google would not tell him why. He was advised to abandon his old account and start a fresh one. However, this meant he could not use the credit card that he had used on the old account...
The affected user called this "a warning to others not to put all your eggs in one basket, because these days, you have no rights over that basket whatsoever." But Friday the user posted an update on Reddit, quoting a Google staffer as saying "we routinely monitor account behavior on Google Play and take action on potentially suspicious activity. Unfortunately, in your case, your account was wrongly flagged and suspended. I have just reopened your account... I sincerely apologize for the stress and inconvenience this has caused you."
He was initially directed by Google staff to a site where he had to scan his driver's license and credit card and told that he would have to wait 24 hours to get his account unlocked. But after this time passed, he was told that the account would not be unlocked and Google would not tell him why. He was advised to abandon his old account and start a fresh one. However, this meant he could not use the credit card that he had used on the old account...
The affected user called this "a warning to others not to put all your eggs in one basket, because these days, you have no rights over that basket whatsoever." But Friday the user posted an update on Reddit, quoting a Google staffer as saying "we routinely monitor account behavior on Google Play and take action on potentially suspicious activity. Unfortunately, in your case, your account was wrongly flagged and suspended. I have just reopened your account... I sincerely apologize for the stress and inconvenience this has caused you."
Blizzard demands your Driver's license if you make the mistake of installing their 2 stage auth app on a mobile device and need to remove it without access to the device.
I hear trying to get your Guild Wars 2 account back if you lose access to the original email involves a copy of your Social Security Card, Birth Certificate, 2 Photo IDs, the original box + receipt, and a phone call to India.
My electricity provider and my dentist even wanted my SSN!A
No problem, as soon as you sign this, which indemnifies me without limit for any misuse if this identify theft qualify information. In other words, if someone breaks into your computer and steal this, you pay all costs related to straightening it out, including, but not limited to, costs of credit score monitoring, all actual costs due to fraud, any increased interest I might have to pay on loans as a result of damage to my credit score, legal fees, lost wages, etc.
What's that? You're not willing to accept responsibility for this information that you require but have absolutely no use for? Then I guess we won't be doing business.
This is another "handle things yourself" situation. I have an Android Phone. No Google Account is attached to it. Google Can't lock my Phone. Google can't track my Phone. Google can't bill me, Google doesn't know my Phone number. My phone, and the apps I have installed on it, are my business, my Contacts are stored in my OwnCloud on my system. As are my Calendar events, as are my places. I don't use Google's Location services, I use Passive GSM Beaconing and GPS. and I get my Maps from Osmand Open Street maps.
"easily deployable mini-personal-cloud-server-in-a-box distributions"
I love the sound of this, but the problem is maintenance and security.
Right now: yes, we could sit down and spec out an appropriate PC, choose from FOSS and put together a gnarly software distribution that does what we want and we could start selling these things.
But what happens in 12 months? 24 months? The distribution needs to be maintained and updated and that takes resources and costs money. The business model will become stretched to include that indefinitely, so the only practical way is to use subscriptions, which many don't like. The fundamental problem is, however: anyone savvy enough to want this is also smart/capable enough to roll their own, while everyone else doesn't give a shit and will stick with "free" Google services. The customer is a relatively experienced privacy conscious professional who is too busy to maintain their own. Sure, there's a market there, but I worry it's too small to allow for any scaling that the product will need to reach a reasonable price point.
Don't bet on it. I've lost access to at least four google accounts when I've moved, apparently they didn't like the change in my IP address. No credit card involved.
That's really insightful. With that logic, the tens of millions who travel for work or vacation everyday, use public WiFi, or connect via their mobile company's randomly and usually short lived DHCP IP address must have terrible problems using their Google accounts.
Or it wasn't an IP address change at all that Google didn't like, but other activity that got you banned not once, not twice, but four times?! Maybe you should examine what exactly you're doing. You're a click-bait headline in waiting. "Google banned account of 9 years for changing IP Address!" and then not revealing that you were spamming the shit out of rec.autos.bitchin.camaro and have a dozen chargebacks on the Google Play store.
...and the second time I was buying some "prescription drugs" in Tijuana.
If you go to Tijuana, or Juarez, or any other Mexican border towns, you will find drug stores selling name-brand prescription drugs within one block of the border. The prices are far lower than in America, because the Mexican government negotiates lower prices with pharmaceutical companies, and because of the different litigation systems. You can also buy far more stuff without a doctor's prescription. It is legal to buy most drugs and bring them into America so long as they are not for resale.