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A for effort -- but you picked the wrong policy to rail against. The problem with Sophie Lee is that she is too young and if you create a GMail account with he

by rryan 15y ago

A for effort -- but you picked the wrong policy to rail against. The problem with Sophie Lee is that she is too young and if you create a GMail account with her real age it will be immediately locked out due to COPPA regulations. This isn't really Google's fault though -- but did make the Dear Sophie ad a little confusing due to this legal restriction. Presumably you have to sign up using your own age since it is an account managed by you. When your child turns 13 you can transfer the account to them. GMail users are not subject to any Real Name policies. Nice straw-man, though. It probably eluded most.

georgieporgie 15y ago
No need to be so snarky. Potential TOS violations, and the very real possibility of a life-long Google account being hijacked or revoked, are thoughts worth considering. Google seems to be presenting itself as a life-long data repository. But they have basically no customer support, no means of data recovery, etc. If they want to advertise themselves as a family scrapbook, I expect them to be as reliable as one.
- danilocampos 15y ago
  This is the most salient observation one can offer when juxtaposing Google's brilliant Don Draper-esque ad against the mediocre, bureaucratic reality that has beset their products. The only motivation I can see for the people who are downvoting you is that they work for Google and the cognitive dissonance is annoying.
- rryan 15y ago
  Which is why Google Takeout exists. What other company is posturing this way and also lets you backup (soon to be?) all of your data? Account lockouts due to TOS violations are often cases in which Google's hands are tied legally. Very few things are life-long, so backup early and backup often. Google is the only cloud hosted service provider I feel comfortable using because I can easily sync my data with my backup server.
  - danilocampos 15y ago
    > Very few things are life-long, so backup early and backup often. I can't imagine why that wasn't included as part of the ad. ;)
    - telcodud 15y ago
      WTF are you talking about? The ad makes no claims that the data is kept around forever. Your snarky comment applies to all digital media, mind.
      - danilocampos 15y ago
        > Your snarky comment applies to all digital media, mind. Thus far, I don't know of any other digital media that's claiming to exist long enough for your child to grow up. Entire companies could crumble during that period. Google's the last place you want to put a digital time capsule to your child. You'd want it in several places, none of which ought be encumbered by the policies a company like Google needs to keep its operations running. But they wouldn't want to mention that in an ad. Any better for you?
  - Timothee 15y ago
    What other company is posturing this way and also lets you backup (soon to be?) all of your data? Facebook? They've let users download their data for some time now. (go to https://www.facebook.com/settings https://www.facebook.com/settings then "Download your data") This looks like this: https://skitch.com/timothee/g8c7r/download-your-information https://skitch.com/timothee/g8c7r/download-your-information For all the critics that Facebook gets, it's also good to note that they have customer service. (and pretty good for my little experience)
deleted 15y ago
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by rryan 15y ago

georgieporgie 15y ago

No need to be so snarky. Potential TOS violations, and the very real possibility of a life-long Google account being hijacked or revoked, are thoughts worth considering. Google seems to be presenting itself as a life-long data repository. But they have basically no customer support, no means of data recovery, etc. If they want to advertise themselves as a family scrapbook, I expect them to be as reliable as one.

danilocampos 15y ago
This is the most salient observation one can offer when juxtaposing Google's brilliant Don Draper-esque ad against the mediocre, bureaucratic reality that has beset their products. The only motivation I can see for the people who are downvoting you is that they work for Google and the cognitive dissonance is annoying.
rryan 15y ago
Which is why Google Takeout exists. What other company is posturing this way and also lets you backup (soon to be?) all of your data? Account lockouts due to TOS violations are often cases in which Google's hands are tied legally. Very few things are life-long, so backup early and backup often. Google is the only cloud hosted service provider I feel comfortable using because I can easily sync my data with my backup server.
- danilocampos 15y ago
  > Very few things are life-long, so backup early and backup often. I can't imagine why that wasn't included as part of the ad. ;)
  - telcodud 15y ago
    WTF are you talking about? The ad makes no claims that the data is kept around forever. Your snarky comment applies to all digital media, mind.
    - danilocampos 15y ago
      > Your snarky comment applies to all digital media, mind. Thus far, I don't know of any other digital media that's claiming to exist long enough for your child to grow up. Entire companies could crumble during that period. Google's the last place you want to put a digital time capsule to your child. You'd want it in several places, none of which ought be encumbered by the policies a company like Google needs to keep its operations running. But they wouldn't want to mention that in an ad. Any better for you?
- Timothee 15y ago
  What other company is posturing this way and also lets you backup (soon to be?) all of your data? Facebook? They've let users download their data for some time now. (go to https://www.facebook.com/settings https://www.facebook.com/settings then "Download your data") This looks like this: https://skitch.com/timothee/g8c7r/download-your-information https://skitch.com/timothee/g8c7r/download-your-information For all the critics that Facebook gets, it's also good to note that they have customer service. (and pretty good for my little experience)

deleted 15y ago

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