Lauren's Blog: A Proposal for "Enhanced Recovery Services" for Locked
Out Google Accounts
https://lauren.vortex.com/2023/05/24/google-locked-out-accounts-enhanced-recovery
This post could get very long very quickly, so instead I'm going to
endeavor to keep this introductory discussion brief, with an array of
crucial details to come later.
In my recent posts:
An Example of a Very Sad Google Account Recovery Failure -- and How It Affects
Real People
https://lauren.vortex.com/2023/05/17/google-account-recovery-failure-sad
and:
Potentially Serious Issues with Google's Announced Inactive Accounts Deletion
Policy
https://lauren.vortex.com/2023/05/16/google-inactive-accounts-deletion
(and frankly, in many related postings over many years in this blog
and other venues), I discussed the continuing problems of honest
Google users being locked out of their Google accounts, often with a
total and permanent loss of all their data (Gmail, photos, Drive
files, etc.) that they entrusted to Google.
These lockouts can occur for an array of reasons -- problems with
login credentials, third-party hacking of accounts including (but not
limited to) malware, Google believing that violations of its Terms of
Service have occurred, and many other events.
Each of these is an entire complex topic area that I won't detail in
this post.
But the bottom line is that many Google users who feel that they have
done nothing wrong find themselves locked out of their accounts -- and
crucially -- their data at Google, and are unable to successfully
navigate the existing largely automated account recovery procedures
that Google currently provides.
Generally speaking, once a user who has been locked out of a Google
account reaches this point, they are, to use the vernacular, SOL --
there's no way to proceed. Usually their data, no matter how important
and precious to their lives, is lost to them forever.
To be sure, sometimes the failure to recover a Google account is
rooted in the failure of users to provide or keep up to date the
recovery information that Google requests for the very purpose of
easing account recovery paths.
But the reality is that many users forget about keeping these current,
or are reluctant to provide phone numbers and/or alternative email
addresses (if they even have them) in the first place. That's just the
way it is.
And ultimately, even at Google's enormous scale of users who use its
services for free, there is something inherently wrong about honest
users who lose so much of their lives -- that Google has encouraged
them to entrust to Google -- when an unrecovered account lockout
occurs.
Over and over again -- in a manner reminiscent of the film "Groundhog
Day" -- desperate Google users who have been locked out have asked me
if there was someone they could pay to help them? Isn't there some
way, they ask, for Google to do a deeper dive into the circumstances
of their lockouts, the users' official government IDs for proof, and
other methods to authenticate them back into their Google accounts --
as can be done at virtually all financial institutions and most other
firms.
Right now the answer is no.
But the answer should be and could be yes, if Google made the
decision -- by no means a trivial one! -- to provide the means for such
"enhanced recovery services" for Google Accounts, which in some cases
(e.g., when a user is indeed at fault as the root cause of the
lockout) could be chargeable (that is, paid) services as a means to
help defray the additional costs involved.
This is a very complicated area with an array of trade-offs and
nuances. It's likely to be highly controversial.
But as far as I'm concerned, the status quo of how Google account
recoveries work (or fail) is no longer acceptable, especially in the
current regulatory and political environment.
In future discussions, I will detail my thinking of how "enhanced
recovery" for Google accounts could be accomplished in practice, and
how it would benefit Google's users, Google itself, and the wider
global community that depends upon Google.
Take care, all. -L
- - -
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
[email protected] (https://www.vortex.com/lauren)
Lauren's Blog: https://lauren.vortex.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
Mastodon: https://mastodon.laurenweinstein.org/@lauren
T2: https://t2.social/laurenweinstein
Founder: Network Neutrality Squad: https://www.nnsquad.org
PRIVACY Forum: https://www.vortex.com/privacy-info
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
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