Google Hits Pixel Resellers With 'Digital Death Sentence'

[Solomani]

This was an interesting read. So much dependence on a single company for our entire digital existence. It may be possible that Microsoft and Apple could do the same. Especially with Apple where there are lots of MR members stating "I have so much invested in the Apple ecosystem blah blah blah"….

Then again, in this situation, I support Google's actions to destroy the lives of scalpers.



Google Hits Pixel Resellers With 'Digital Death Sentence'

Some of Google's unwitting users are learning a harsh lesson: If you violate the company's policies, it can abruptly cut you off from your Gmail account, online photos and other vital digital services.

Several people who recently bought Google's new Pixel phone on behalf of a New Hampshire dealer are now suffering that punishment after the company detected their online purchases and judged they violated its terms of service. Those rules, outlined in a document that few people read closely, forbid the purchase of the Pixel for "commercial" resale.

"There isn't an hour that doesn't go by that I don't think about the enormity of what Google has done to me," said one of the affected resellers, Shmuel Super of Brooklyn, New York. "This is like a digital death sentence."

Some said they couldn't retrieve confirmation numbers for upcoming flights or notices about an upcoming credit-card payment. Others couldn't fetch work documents or medical records. Some started getting phone calls from friends, family and colleagues wondering why they weren't responding to emails.

 

[Jessica Lares]

I don't understand how these people thought they were going to get away with routing about 1,000 phones to the same place? Especially when ordering directly from Google Play...

Amazon has done the same thing to some people who order and return an unspecified number of goods, whether it's physical or digital items.

But these are situations when the user has always done something wrong and damaging to the company.

Not that people shouldn't be worried about losing their personal data, that's one of the reasons I don't 100% rely on the cloud, but we should keep in mind that there's always a reason why an account gets terminated, and there will always be the people who fight against it like what's happening here.

 

[I7guy]

I don't understand how these people thought they were going to get away with routing about 1,000 phones to the same place? Especially when ordering directly from Google Play...

Amazon has done the same thing to some people who order and return an unspecified number of goods, whether it's physical or digital items.

But these are situations when the user has always done something wrong and damaging to the company.

Not that people shouldn't be worried about losing their personal data, that's one of the reasons I don't 100% rely on the cloud, but we should keep in mind that there's always a reason why an account gets terminated, and there will always be the people who fight against it like what's happening here.

There are actually three stories here:
1. Google terminated accounts.
2. Seems like the people involved have a common demographic
3. Don't put all of your eggs in one basket

 

[lowendlinux]

This was an interesting read. So much dependence on a single company for our entire digital existence. It may be possible that Microsoft and Apple could do the same. Especially with Apple where there are lots of MR members stating "I have so much invested in the Apple ecosystem blah blah blah"….

Then again, in this situation, I support Google's actions to destroy the lives of scalpers.

To many Google is the internet and they've now interjected themselves in every facet of our digital existence. Google has a scary amount of power they influence the news we read, where we shop, and what sites we access. I'd really like to see them broken apart but I don't know under what law it could be done until then cloud = other people computers

 

[AidenShaw]

To many Google is the internet and they've now interjected themselves in every facet of our digital existence. Google has a scary amount of power they influence the news we read, where we shop, and what sites we access. I'd really like to see them broken apart but I don't know under what law it could be done until then cloud = other people computers

One small step would be to make Yahoo! or Bing your default search engine. At least then you wouldn't be letting Google data-mine your web actions as much.

 

[C DM]

One small step would be to make Yahoo! or Bing your default search engine. At least then you wouldn't be letting Google data-mine your web actions as much.

And basically let other companies do that, along with perhaps hackers and government entities?

 

[Mousse]

One small step would be to make Yahoo! or Bing your default search engine. At least then you wouldn't be letting Google data-mine your web actions as much.

I used to use Yahoo! and tried Bing, neither were adequate. I use DuckDuckGo as my default search engine and use Google for image searches since it's superior to DuckDuckGo in that department.

 

[Zirel]

It may be possible that Microsoft and Apple could do the same. Especially with Apple where there are lots of MR members stating "I have so much invested in the Apple ecosystem blah blah blah"….

What are you saying?

The author of the article is the typical Google apologist.

It wasn't the end buyer that did anything wrong, it was the middleman, the buyer is totally innocent.

Yet Google friggin barred their accounts? That's crazy!

If Apple would do that, it would be prime time news, and every blog would throw rocks at Apple and the whole internet would implode.

This is the original article posted long ago on Hacker News

http://www.dansdeals.com/archives/98444

 

[Tech198]

This was an interesting read. So much dependence on a single company for our entire digital existence. It may be possible that Microsoft and Apple could do the same. Especially with Apple where there are lots of MR members stating "I have so much invested in the Apple ecosystem blah blah blah"….

Then again, in this situation, I support Google's actions to destroy the lives of scalpers.



Google Hits Pixel Resellers With 'Digital Death Sentence'

Some of Google's unwitting users are learning a harsh lesson: If you violate the company's policies, it can abruptly cut you off from your Gmail account, online photos and other vital digital services.

Several people who recently bought Google's new Pixel phone on behalf of a New Hampshire dealer are now suffering that punishment after the company detected their online purchases and judged they violated its terms of service. Those rules, outlined in a document that few people read closely, forbid the purchase of the Pixel for "commercial" resale.

"There isn't an hour that doesn't go by that I don't think about the enormity of what Google has done to me," said one of the affected resellers, Shmuel Super of Brooklyn, New York. "This is like a digital death sentence."

Some said they couldn't retrieve confirmation numbers for upcoming flights or notices about an upcoming credit-card payment. Others couldn't fetch work documents or medical records. Some started getting phone calls from friends, family and colleagues wondering why they weren't responding to emails.

i would have actually thought of Apple doing something like this, not Google.

The issue was he was trying to resell them for allot less value than one could buy them. Good on Google. The real mistake was actually using Google services after u resold..