Everyone is bashing Google, and rightfully so. I avoid using their services.
However, I've also experienced the other side. I've run an online gaming business and we had to ban players that created multiple accounts to cheat. I remember an infamous player whom we kicked out after he created a bunch of accounts and used them to brazenly cheat.
He created yet another account and posted on our forums complaining about his locked main account. It contained a statement, written in all caps "ICH BIN MIR KEINER MANIPULATION BEWUSST" ("I'm not aware of any manipulation") that turned into a meme in our company because it was so brazen.
Google has no interest in locking out its users and customers. I'm sure there are many accounts that got locked erroneously and it's appaling that it's almost impossible to reach a human to appeal the decision. But i'm convinced that there are far more accounts that were rightfully locked.
Google could at least treat differently two kinds of “customers”: anonymous zero-effort freshly registered accounts and actual paying clients who have undergone extensive KYC and have years of history.
I think the main issue is not automated bans, but playing by all rules, jumping through all hoops, and still getting an unappealable ban on a whim.
What i was getting at was that some of these reports may be from people or organisations whose account closures were not in error. I do think they should give people the opportunity to download the data from the account even after it was locked.
What I was getting at was that some of these reports may be from people or organisations whose account closures WERE in error, and that is much worse than the possibility that they were not.
Any sufficient system of meting out justice requires a sufficient level of assurance that it won't get it wrong and punish an innocent person. Perfection is obviously not possible here, but increasing that level of assurance is.
However, I've also experienced the other side. I've run an online gaming business and we had to ban players that created multiple accounts to cheat. I remember an infamous player whom we kicked out after he created a bunch of accounts and used them to brazenly cheat.
He created yet another account and posted on our forums complaining about his locked main account. It contained a statement, written in all caps "ICH BIN MIR KEINER MANIPULATION BEWUSST" ("I'm not aware of any manipulation") that turned into a meme in our company because it was so brazen.
Google has no interest in locking out its users and customers. I'm sure there are many accounts that got locked erroneously and it's appaling that it's almost impossible to reach a human to appeal the decision. But i'm convinced that there are far more accounts that were rightfully locked.