16 ms·

Sounds like a great way to lose your Google account (and all your other linked Google services) for ToS violations to me.

kitotik 7y ago
Agreed. It also sounds like a great way to (ab)use a dumb commodity via ephemeral Google accounts to distribute data.
m-p-3 7y ago
I would make sure to not do this in an important Google account.
- mcbits 7y ago
  I've seen a few stories of businesses and their employees all losing their Google accounts, just because the company hired a freelancer who had previously been banned, and Google detected the association. (Pretty sure they got the accounts back after some public outrage.) I wouldn't risk intentionally violating their terms if you're not quite ready to wake up one day 100% Google-free, or very good at hiding your tracks.
  - warp_factor 7y ago
    The fact that this is even a remote possibility should worry everyone of the ugly monopoly that Google became. I found myself in a similar situation a couple months ago. An android App falsely charged me on the Play store. After trying to contact Google for multiple weeks I gave up and disputed the charge on my credit card. This resulted in Google coming after me for 8.99$ and threatening me to close all my Google accounts including gmail, calendar, photos, drive and everything I rely daily in Google. That was a wake-up call for me. I decided to move everything OUT of Google. That company got too much power, it should worry way more people.
    - iKevinShah 7y ago
      > I decided to move everything OUT of Google Have you been successful in it? Any guidelines / tips? How hard is it?
      - guitarbill 7y ago
        The sooner you start, the better. I've moved most of my email/contacts/calendar away [0], and the longer you give yourself to catch the things you've signed up for but forgotten, the better. Youtube was also a pain, but I transitioned my subscriptions manually to a different account. Maps seems like it'd be the trickiest if you're invested. I wasn't a heavy user, and maps still works pretty good when you're logged out. [0] I use fastmail + custom domain, which works great, but you have to guard the domain very closely.
        vageli 7y ago
        > [0] I use fastmail + custom domain, which works great, but you have to guard the domain very closely. What do you mean by guarding the domain? To prevent large volumes of spam?
        LostJourneyman 7y ago
        I think OP means that you have to make sure you don't forget to/neglect to renew it and make sure you don't accidentally lose the domain for any reason.
        guitarbill 7y ago
        spot on, basically you now have to worry about the domain being lost or hijacked also. for me, the flexibility to change email providers behind a domain is worth it though
        vageli 7y ago
        Thank you for the clarification. I use a dedicated card for domain hosting (with autorenewal enabled) to prevent this specific issue but I recognize most people likely don't do the same.
  - fireattack 7y ago
    Isn't that story debunked, if we're talking about the one coming from reddit?
  - DonHopkins 7y ago
    That gives a new meaning to "google bombing" -- a bad actor could cultivate a terrible google rating, then hire onto a low level freelance gig at a big company they wanted to bomb by association! Let's just say Oracle as a hypothetical example -- Russia, if you're listening...
  - dvfjsdhgfv 7y ago
    > Pretty sure they got the accounts back after some public outrage. This may happen only if you manage to get it to the front page of HN or have many Twitter followers. In most cases you don't stand much chances though.
  - dnate 7y ago
    If you have a significant problem with waking up one day 100% google free, you are already in trouble.
- dymk 7y ago
  Google can and will shut down accounts they think are ran by the same actor, even if they're not explicitly linked
- decebalus1 7y ago
  I would make sure to not have any important Google account
mindfulhack 7y ago
Indeed. I love the "sorry @ the guys from google internal forums who are looking at this" line at the github. All tongue in cheek and aware of the situation. TBH this is not unlike reporting a security bug to a company as a white hat, but more like a grey hat here.
- lordpankake 7y ago
  yh hopefully they don't ban me for this
- yreg 7y ago
  I think they might not care unless this can somehow endanger their infrastructure. (It's not really unlimited, is it?) If the few blokes using this scam their way into few hundred terabytes of free storage, so be it, it's not worth the hassle for Google, imo. edit: Apparently an account can create up to 250 docs a day https://developers.google.com/apps-script/guides/services/quotas https://developers.google.com/apps-script/guides/services/qu...
  - epicide 7y ago
    > If the few blokes using this scam their way into few hundred terabytes of free storage, so be it, it's not worth the hassle for Google, imo. This. They probably thought of this exact scenario before adding unlimited docs. They probably even expected somebody to make a script for it. Hell, a few of them might even have a script. As long as a lot of people don't start abusing it or make a file-sharing service based on it, then they probably won't care. Basically, not until it's a significant enough threat to their bottom line. Ultimately, it's no different than the inevitable person that just has a script to generate garbage and upload it to Google Docs as fast as possible. That's what the 250 docs a day limit is there for.
  - aflat 7y ago
    I think you underestimate the amount of room most warez take up. And what these distributors will go through to get free space
neltnerb 7y ago
Hehe, I was just thinking how simple it will be for Google to identify accounts using this technique from simple usage analytics. I suspect this will not work for long... but still super cool!

kitotik 7y ago

Agreed. It also sounds like a great way to (ab)use a dumb commodity via ephemeral Google accounts to distribute data.

m-p-3 7y ago

I would make sure to not do this in an important Google account.

mcbits 7y ago
I've seen a few stories of businesses and their employees all losing their Google accounts, just because the company hired a freelancer who had previously been banned, and Google detected the association. (Pretty sure they got the accounts back after some public outrage.) I wouldn't risk intentionally violating their terms if you're not quite ready to wake up one day 100% Google-free, or very good at hiding your tracks.
- warp_factor 7y ago
  The fact that this is even a remote possibility should worry everyone of the ugly monopoly that Google became. I found myself in a similar situation a couple months ago. An android App falsely charged me on the Play store. After trying to contact Google for multiple weeks I gave up and disputed the charge on my credit card. This resulted in Google coming after me for 8.99$ and threatening me to close all my Google accounts including gmail, calendar, photos, drive and everything I rely daily in Google. That was a wake-up call for me. I decided to move everything OUT of Google. That company got too much power, it should worry way more people.
  - iKevinShah 7y ago
    > I decided to move everything OUT of Google Have you been successful in it? Any guidelines / tips? How hard is it?
    - guitarbill 7y ago
      The sooner you start, the better. I've moved most of my email/contacts/calendar away [0], and the longer you give yourself to catch the things you've signed up for but forgotten, the better. Youtube was also a pain, but I transitioned my subscriptions manually to a different account. Maps seems like it'd be the trickiest if you're invested. I wasn't a heavy user, and maps still works pretty good when you're logged out. [0] I use fastmail + custom domain, which works great, but you have to guard the domain very closely.
      - vageli 7y ago
        > [0] I use fastmail + custom domain, which works great, but you have to guard the domain very closely. What do you mean by guarding the domain? To prevent large volumes of spam?
        LostJourneyman 7y ago
        I think OP means that you have to make sure you don't forget to/neglect to renew it and make sure you don't accidentally lose the domain for any reason.
        guitarbill 7y ago
        spot on, basically you now have to worry about the domain being lost or hijacked also. for me, the flexibility to change email providers behind a domain is worth it though
        vageli 7y ago
        Thank you for the clarification. I use a dedicated card for domain hosting (with autorenewal enabled) to prevent this specific issue but I recognize most people likely don't do the same.
- fireattack 7y ago
  Isn't that story debunked, if we're talking about the one coming from reddit?
- DonHopkins 7y ago
  That gives a new meaning to "google bombing" -- a bad actor could cultivate a terrible google rating, then hire onto a low level freelance gig at a big company they wanted to bomb by association! Let's just say Oracle as a hypothetical example -- Russia, if you're listening...
- dvfjsdhgfv 7y ago
  > Pretty sure they got the accounts back after some public outrage. This may happen only if you manage to get it to the front page of HN or have many Twitter followers. In most cases you don't stand much chances though.
- dnate 7y ago
  If you have a significant problem with waking up one day 100% google free, you are already in trouble.
dymk 7y ago
Google can and will shut down accounts they think are ran by the same actor, even if they're not explicitly linked
decebalus1 7y ago
I would make sure to not have any important Google account

mindfulhack 7y ago

Indeed. I love the "sorry @ the guys from google internal forums who are looking at this" line at the github. All tongue in cheek and aware of the situation. TBH this is not unlike reporting a security bug to a company as a white hat, but more like a grey hat here.

lordpankake 7y ago
yh hopefully they don't ban me for this
yreg 7y ago
I think they might not care unless this can somehow endanger their infrastructure. (It's not really unlimited, is it?) If the few blokes using this scam their way into few hundred terabytes of free storage, so be it, it's not worth the hassle for Google, imo. edit: Apparently an account can create up to 250 docs a day https://developers.google.com/apps-script/guides/services/quotas https://developers.google.com/apps-script/guides/services/qu...
- epicide 7y ago
  > If the few blokes using this scam their way into few hundred terabytes of free storage, so be it, it's not worth the hassle for Google, imo. This. They probably thought of this exact scenario before adding unlimited docs. They probably even expected somebody to make a script for it. Hell, a few of them might even have a script. As long as a lot of people don't start abusing it or make a file-sharing service based on it, then they probably won't care. Basically, not until it's a significant enough threat to their bottom line. Ultimately, it's no different than the inevitable person that just has a script to generate garbage and upload it to Google Docs as fast as possible. That's what the 250 docs a day limit is there for.
- aflat 7y ago
  I think you underestimate the amount of room most warez take up. And what these distributors will go through to get free space

neltnerb 7y ago

Hehe, I was just thinking how simple it will be for Google to identify accounts using this technique from simple usage analytics. I suspect this will not work for long... but still super cool!