Steve was right, Googles "Don't be evil" mantra is BS

[koruki]

So the g/f's gmail account just got disabled for "unusual activity" today for no apparent reason. All she does is e-mail friends and use the chat function. As you can guess, this is VERY inconvenient for people who are dependent on their gmail account. yes it a free service but this is unacceptable.

I did a quick GOOGLE search and seems there are people who are worse off as they use gmail to operate their business. Without warning, having your e-mail disabled is always going to be a disaster. At least let people know they will have no email access at all start at a given date and time??

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/gmail/thread?hl=en&tid=66728e0594096748

 

[gilkisson]

Dude. That does suck. Most ISPs will at least send you a nastygram first.

Of course, there is a difference in the level of service between a paying customer and a free account. You'd have to check their TOS, I'm fairly sure it boils down to: " we can cut you at any time for any reason".

I saw your(?) 7 posts in 10 minutes from 2am in the morning. Did anyone ever respond?

 

[koruki]

Those post weren't for me, I was just searching for why this happened as I'm the one the g/f turns to and I've always had good words to say about google to her and she uses gmail because I USE TO rave about it over hotmail. I felt obligated to find a reason for her account being locked but ... sigh...

 

[.Andy]

I am not sure cutting off your girlfriends account counts as evil per se. Perhaps an error. Or perhaps they were well indicated (someone had hijacked it and had been using it to spam).

I know it sounds heartless but I really do have little sympathy for people that trust online services without backing up their email. Everyone should keep s backup locally.

 

[koruki]

I dunno if its a new thing but seems she isnt the only one thats had her account locked down.

As for back up, lucky for her she uses it casually, I feel for the people who operate their business with gmail. In this case, a back up doesn't suffice for customers wondering why you are not replying their queries.

 

[Zombie Acorn]

I dunno if its a new thing but seems she isnt the only one thats had her account locked down.

As for back up, lucky for her she uses it casually, I feel for the people who operate their business with gmail. In this case, a back up doesn't suffice for customers wondering why you are not replying their queries.

If you are using gmail for your business its time to take the padlock off the wallet and invest in a host.

 

[entatlrg]

Exactly why did they shut her account? There has to be a reason.

 

[maflynn]

Of course it is, its just marketing and feel good gestures that only deceives the gullible.

Any company that scans emails for marketing purposes and has this little ditty is just BS

Personally, I think its a bad idea to use a free email provider to run a business by. While I have a gmail account, its only for google voice and small other things. I use my own domain name.

I get to keep the name I want and I have no multibillion dollar corporation scanning through my emails.

 

[kdarling]

Exactly why did they shut her account? There has to be a reason.

Exactly. It's not "evil" for their automatic system to disable an account that is either suddenly spouting spam or has some other odd activity. Heck, I've had my credit accounts disabled when I forgot to tell them I was going overseas, etc. It's just the new world of automatic tripwires.

Multiple access at the same time is one of their automatic keys, btw. Were you or she logged into the account from multiple locations at the same time?

Did you try their recovery form? See below:

If you can’t access your account

Use the account recovery form:

https://www.google.com/support/accounts/bin/request.py?ara=1&hl=en&contact_type=ara&ctx=ara

It will ask you a series of questions about your account to try and prove that you are the true owner. If you cannot answer enough questions the first time around, we encourage you to keep trying! I’ve seen users succeed after multiple attempts; it can be tough, but we want to make sure we keep the bad guys out. At this time, the account recovery form is the only way to regain access to your account, ...

 

[diazj3]

sorry to break some sad news to you: when it comes to ethics over profits, all corporations - including Google and Apple - choose money... hence, their so called well intentioned mantras are all BS.