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To be honest this sounds like some fake story. NewPipe really don't use any Google credentials and even considering how little trust I have in Google I don't bu

by SXX 7y ago

To be honest this sounds like some fake story. NewPipe really don't use any Google credentials and even considering how little trust I have in Google I don't buy like they going to buy account this this kind of stuff. Like seriously think on it: why should they ban someone based off IP address alone that can be shared with many devices / accounts.

keyme 7y ago
Some commenters on the thread suggested that Play Protect reports to Google that your device (linked to your account) uses this app. I'm not sure that's true, but I disabled it nonetheless.
shadowgovt 7y ago
They wouldn't. But if there's enough secondary signal for them to determine what account is running the access that is grabbing videos but not ads (i.e. do NewPipe's requests carry the phone IMEI? Can Google correlate that IMEI to a user account?), Google could lock down the account. What the user describes sounds like an account lockdown, not an IP ban.
- gruez 7y ago
  >do NewPipe's requests carry the phone IMEI? It doesn't have the required permissions to get IMEI, so no.
- londons_explore 7y ago
  It sounds to me like this user was banned for an entirely different reason. Like for example, someone stole his login credentials, fired up hundreds of VM's on GCloud, and started mining Monero.
  - shadowgovt 7y ago
    User does claim they received a message from Google "saying that I was using 3rd party app outside of Play Store to go around Youtube ads." We haven't seen a copy of that message, but I'm assuming we can take it at face-value.
    - lonelappde 7y ago
      Why would you assume one sentence of an anonymous person on the Internet should be taken at face value? 'shadowgovt owes me 12.3 BTC.
      - shadowgovt 7y ago
        If we don't assume that on average, we have very little to talk about. ;)
    - behringer 7y ago
      You can't assume it at face-value, because how could he receive the email if he's banned?
ktta 7y ago
The culprit could be Google Play protect. You need to use a google account to use Google Play, and then Google Play periodically scans apps, even if they aren't downloaded from Google Play like F-Droid (even apps I loaded for testing using adb). So that scan, whose results are sent back to google could reveal NewPipe and associate that with your account.
colordrops 7y ago
I had the same intuition as well. I'm wondering if this is a scare story generated by a google employee to get people to stop using NewPipe.
- lonelappde 7y ago
  Or generated by a Google opposer to get people to stop using Google.
- rainyMammoth 7y ago
  or stop using google ?
  - colordrops 7y ago
    Good point
levosmetalo 7y ago
For me it's hard to believe that Google can identify which Google user account is used to run NewPipe.
- fooker 7y ago
  IP address? But if they really did that, this could be grounds for a serious lawsuit. I have a suspicion that the poster is not being entirely honest.
figgyc 7y ago
I'm inclined to agree because of one contradiction in the issue: they say they got an email when they were banned but then they say they can't access their Gmail to provide proof because they were banned. Either your account stays unbanned for a few minutes so your Gmail can sync in which case it should still be available offline, it's on another email which they can still access, or they're lying.
- SubiculumCode 7y ago
  You can provide alternate email addresses for recovery, etc for google accounts.
  - mthoms 7y ago
    True, but the person in question was asked in the thread to provide a screenshot of the email. To which they replied that they couldn't because the account was locked. That certainly doesn't seem to add up, though it might just be a mis-communication.
kyrra 7y ago
I don't know anything about this specific story, and won't comment on it. But, this is actually a common attack vector that people with nefarious purposes use. They come up with a story that makes some company look bad, but leave out important details (like they were trying to hijack accounts, spamming, etc...). Some of these people will do this either to get policies changed in their benefit, or as a form of revenge for getting caught. It's important to remember that all stories have 2 sides, and to consider other possibilities when you only hear one side of a story.
- persistent 7y ago
  I used to work with Google's account abuse team. The company will never comment on suspensions, so you are right that you only get 1 side. Every consumer account suspension I ever looked into was due to severe abuse on the part of the account holder: folders full of child porn, account being used to spam or distribute viruses, etc. Every advertiser account that some jerk whined about being "wrongly suspended for no reason omg google is satan" was actually due to either click fraud or advertisers' sites distributing malware. Whenever you see one of these complaints you should reach for a massive, galaxy-scale grain of salt. In this case however the account holder is being totally up front about their activities: they were using a proxy network to rip off YouTube. This is a bit like Trump committing treason on live TV and then later whining about impeachment on Twitter. What's in question is not the facts but the policy.
  - w0land 7y ago
    Out of curiosity, how did you notice folders were full of child porn? Do operators have access to mail folders and / or use to check randomly on people emails?
    - persistent 7y ago
      They shared it and someone reported it, 100% of the time. Complaints are verified by special contractors whose mental health is sacrificed for child safety. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/reyhan/tech-confessional-the-googler-who-looks-at-the-wo https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/reyhan/tech-confessiona...
ssvss 7y ago
There are multiple ways for Google to know that NewPipe is installed in a device. Play Protect scanning is one way mentioned in the OP’s github link. Another method I can think is, when I download a mp3 file using newpipe, it adds the text “NewPipe” for the Album mp3 tag. and PlayMusic automatically uploads any new mp3 file downloaded to your device.
- MertsA 7y ago
  Also isn't there another setting to track app usage activity on Android? I'm pretty certain that also keeps a record of opening and using apps outside of just what's on the Play store as well. If anything I'd suspect that was used rather than Play Protect.
danShumway 7y ago
Same reaction. I'm skeptical this story is true. I've never heard of Google banning a user over blocking ads before -- frankly, even with the amount of crap I usually give Google, this feels out of character for them. Lots of people use NewPipe with unrooted phones, so if it is an actual policy, we should see more widespread bans. If we don't, I'm going to dismiss it as, "we don't have the full story, or its made up entirely." That being said, of course you should take steps to mitigate the impacts of being banned by Google. But you should have been doing that anyway, so I don't think this story changes anything. But... no, I wouldn't panic over using NewPipe.

by SXX 7y ago

keyme 7y ago

Some commenters on the thread suggested that Play Protect reports to Google that your device (linked to your account) uses this app. I'm not sure that's true, but I disabled it nonetheless.

shadowgovt 7y ago

They wouldn't. But if there's enough secondary signal for them to determine what account is running the access that is grabbing videos but not ads (i.e. do NewPipe's requests carry the phone IMEI? Can Google correlate that IMEI to a user account?), Google could lock down the account. What the user describes sounds like an account lockdown, not an IP ban.

gruez 7y ago
>do NewPipe's requests carry the phone IMEI? It doesn't have the required permissions to get IMEI, so no.
londons_explore 7y ago
It sounds to me like this user was banned for an entirely different reason. Like for example, someone stole his login credentials, fired up hundreds of VM's on GCloud, and started mining Monero.
- shadowgovt 7y ago
  User does claim they received a message from Google "saying that I was using 3rd party app outside of Play Store to go around Youtube ads." We haven't seen a copy of that message, but I'm assuming we can take it at face-value.
  - lonelappde 7y ago
    Why would you assume one sentence of an anonymous person on the Internet should be taken at face value? 'shadowgovt owes me 12.3 BTC.
    - shadowgovt 7y ago
      If we don't assume that on average, we have very little to talk about. ;)
  - behringer 7y ago
    You can't assume it at face-value, because how could he receive the email if he's banned?

ktta 7y ago

The culprit could be Google Play protect. You need to use a google account to use Google Play, and then Google Play periodically scans apps, even if they aren't downloaded from Google Play like F-Droid (even apps I loaded for testing using adb). So that scan, whose results are sent back to google could reveal NewPipe and associate that with your account.

colordrops 7y ago

I had the same intuition as well. I'm wondering if this is a scare story generated by a google employee to get people to stop using NewPipe.

lonelappde 7y ago
Or generated by a Google opposer to get people to stop using Google.
rainyMammoth 7y ago
or stop using google ?
- colordrops 7y ago
  Good point

levosmetalo 7y ago

For me it's hard to believe that Google can identify which Google user account is used to run NewPipe.

fooker 7y ago
IP address? But if they really did that, this could be grounds for a serious lawsuit. I have a suspicion that the poster is not being entirely honest.

figgyc 7y ago

I'm inclined to agree because of one contradiction in the issue: they say they got an email when they were banned but then they say they can't access their Gmail to provide proof because they were banned. Either your account stays unbanned for a few minutes so your Gmail can sync in which case it should still be available offline, it's on another email which they can still access, or they're lying.

SubiculumCode 7y ago
You can provide alternate email addresses for recovery, etc for google accounts.
- mthoms 7y ago
  True, but the person in question was asked in the thread to provide a screenshot of the email. To which they replied that they couldn't because the account was locked. That certainly doesn't seem to add up, though it might just be a mis-communication.

kyrra 7y ago

I don't know anything about this specific story, and won't comment on it. But, this is actually a common attack vector that people with nefarious purposes use. They come up with a story that makes some company look bad, but leave out important details (like they were trying to hijack accounts, spamming, etc...). Some of these people will do this either to get policies changed in their benefit, or as a form of revenge for getting caught. It's important to remember that all stories have 2 sides, and to consider other possibilities when you only hear one side of a story.

persistent 7y ago
I used to work with Google's account abuse team. The company will never comment on suspensions, so you are right that you only get 1 side. Every consumer account suspension I ever looked into was due to severe abuse on the part of the account holder: folders full of child porn, account being used to spam or distribute viruses, etc. Every advertiser account that some jerk whined about being "wrongly suspended for no reason omg google is satan" was actually due to either click fraud or advertisers' sites distributing malware. Whenever you see one of these complaints you should reach for a massive, galaxy-scale grain of salt. In this case however the account holder is being totally up front about their activities: they were using a proxy network to rip off YouTube. This is a bit like Trump committing treason on live TV and then later whining about impeachment on Twitter. What's in question is not the facts but the policy.
- w0land 7y ago
  Out of curiosity, how did you notice folders were full of child porn? Do operators have access to mail folders and / or use to check randomly on people emails?
  - persistent 7y ago
    They shared it and someone reported it, 100% of the time. Complaints are verified by special contractors whose mental health is sacrificed for child safety. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/reyhan/tech-confessional-the-googler-who-looks-at-the-wo https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/reyhan/tech-confessiona...

ssvss 7y ago

There are multiple ways for Google to know that NewPipe is installed in a device. Play Protect scanning is one way mentioned in the OP’s github link. Another method I can think is, when I download a mp3 file using newpipe, it adds the text “NewPipe” for the Album mp3 tag. and PlayMusic automatically uploads any new mp3 file downloaded to your device.

MertsA 7y ago
Also isn't there another setting to track app usage activity on Android? I'm pretty certain that also keeps a record of opening and using apps outside of just what's on the Play store as well. If anything I'd suspect that was used rather than Play Protect.

danShumway 7y ago

Same reaction. I'm skeptical this story is true. I've never heard of Google banning a user over blocking ads before -- frankly, even with the amount of crap I usually give Google, this feels out of character for them. Lots of people use NewPipe with unrooted phones, so if it is an actual policy, we should see more widespread bans. If we don't, I'm going to dismiss it as, "we don't have the full story, or its made up entirely." That being said, of course you should take steps to mitigate the impacts of being banned by Google. But you should have been doing that anyway, so I don't think this story changes anything. But... no, I wouldn't panic over using NewPipe.