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0 pointsPolylactic_acid6y ago0 comments

I used to use google docs until they randomly locked one of the docs I was working on for a week due to one of their "suspicious activity" scripts. Really hammered in the message that if you don't host it then you don't own it.

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7 comments · 2 top-level

chrischen6y ago· 5 in thread

I think the issue is you aren’t paying for it, so you don’t own it. Paid hosted services cannot pull this crap.

franga20006y ago

Paid G suite can and does pull this crap. There was a comment on HN a year-ish ago, when someone's entire ~100 person company (almost?) went out of business because Google flagged the personal Gmail of the domain admin, this "spread" to their company email, Google closed it and losing the admin account made the entire domain get deleted. Not "blocked" or "pending review" - deleted! IIRC even pulling personal favors at Google couldn't save them.

gvjddbnvdrbv6y ago

Do you have a link to this story?

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oefrha6y ago

Paid hosted services can and do pull this crap, and it’s not just Google.

“Digital Ocean killed our company” https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20064169

leonidasv6y ago

At least DO was responsible, transparent and disclosured the bug for the public. After reading through the post, I've felt much more confident to use their services, specially after that comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20119939

Big G's policy is to lock you, provide no further comments and no contact link.

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manigandham6y ago

Quite a lot of paid services have done exactly this. They use vague all-encompassing terms of service designed to give them complete control. Pretty much anything can be used as a violation of those terms, allowing them to keep your money while also blocking all access and even deleting your data. Very few customers have the legal and financial resources to unblock this if it does happen.

komali26y ago

That's actually kinda nice of them. Instead of waiting till we were totally and completely locked in to play big bad wolf, they've done it earlier while there's still time to get the message out.

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