Disaster Google to delete inactive accounts starting December - "Once it's on the Internet, it's there forever!" - Lol no

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Google to delete inactive accounts starting December​

Screenshot from 2023-05-17 14-51-04.png

May 16 (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google on Tuesday said it would delete accounts that had remained unused for two years starting December, in a bid to prevent security threats including hacks.

The company said that if a Google account had not been used or signed into for at least two years, it might delete the account and content across Google Workspace, which includes Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet and Calendar, as well as YouTube and Google Photos.

The policy change only applies to personal Google Accounts and not to those for organizations like schools or businesses.

In 2020, Google had said it would remove content stored in an inactive account, but not delete the account itself.

Starting Tuesday, Google will send multiple notifications to the account email address and recovery mail of the inactive accounts before deletion.

Last week, Elon Musk said Twitter would remove accounts that have been inactive for several years and archive them, saying that the action is "important to free up abandoned handles."


[OP note: Here's the actual Google blogpost]
https://www.blog.google/technology/safety-security/updating-our-inactive-account-policies/ [Archive]

Updating our inactive account policies​


People want the products and services they use online to be safe and secure. Which is why we have invested in technology and tools to protect our users from security threats, like spam, phishing scams and account hijacking.

Even with these protections, if an account hasn’t been used for an extended period of time, it is more likely to be compromised. This is because forgotten or unattended accounts often rely on old or re-used passwords that may have been compromised, haven't had two factor authentication set up, and receive fewer security checks by the user. Our internal analysis shows abandoned accounts are at least 10x less likely than active accounts to have 2-step-verification set up. Meaning, these accounts are often vulnerable, and once an account is compromised, it can be used for anything from identity theft to a vector for unwanted or even malicious content, like spam.

To reduce this risk, we are updating our inactivity policy for Google Accounts to 2 years across our products. Starting later this year, if a Google Account has not been used or signed into for at least 2 years, we may delete the account and its contents – including content within Google Workspace (Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet, Calendar), YouTube and Google Photos.

The policy only applies to personal Google Accounts, and will not affect accounts for organizations like schools or businesses. This update aligns our policy with industry standards around retention and account deletion and also limits the amount of time Google retains your unused personal information.

We are going to roll this out slowly and carefully, with plenty of notice:

  • While the policy takes effect today, it will not immediately impact users with an inactive account — the earliest we will begin deleting accounts is December 2023.
  • We will take a phased approach, starting with accounts that were created and never used again.
  • Before deleting an account, we will send multiple notifications over the months leading up to deletion, to both the account email address and the recovery email (if one has been provided).

How to keep your account active

The simplest way to keep a Google Account active is to sign-in at least once every 2 years. If you have signed into your Google Account or any of our services recently, your account is considered active and will not be deleted. Activity might include these types of actions you take when you sign in or while you’re signed in to your Google Account:

  • Reading or sending an email
  • Using Google Drive
  • Watching a YouTube video
  • Downloading an app on the Google Play Store
  • Using Google Search
  • Using Sign in with Google to sign in to a third-party app or service
If you have an existing subscription set up through your Google Account, for example to Google One, a news publication or an app, we also consider this account activity and your account will not be impacted.

As previously announced, you will need to specifically sign in to Google Photos every 2 years to be considered active which will ensure your photos and other content are not deleted. Similarly, we will send multiple notifications before we take any action.


Creating a backup plan for your account and its content

We encourage users to provide a recovery email at sign-up. It's important to make sure this recovery email in your account settings is up-to-date.

We also offer a variety of free tools to help manage your account and provide options to backup your data.

You can download and export your data to other platforms through our Takeout feature, which has been available for over a decade. Similarly, Inactive Account Manager allows users to decide what happens to their account and data when it becomes inactive for a period of up to 18 months. Options users can select at enrollment include:

  • Sending specific files to trusted contacts of their choosing,
  • Applying a Gmail autoresponder, and
  • Deleting their account entirely
Today’s update helps us continue our advancements in account security, and helps reinforce our commitment to keep your private information private. For more information on this policy, please see our Help Center.


UPDATE:

Google is backing down on deleting old accounts that have uploaded Youtube videos... at least for now. They might still do it in the future when there's less backlash.
[Update link] [Onion]
 
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The company said that if a Google account had not been used or signed into for at least two years, it might delete the account and content across Google Workspace, which includes Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet and Calendar, as well as YouTube and Google Photos.
Hopefully not public stuff. Deleting all videos off YouTube from accounts that have been inactive for two years would be a disaster.
 
So why are both Twitter and Google doing this now? If I knew any better, I'd say it was because of the Biden investigation. Or it could be due to the recession we're having. Freeing up server space and using less space over all. Lowering operational costs.
I could said a mix of both. Looks like Google will be more closer to be the next Yahoo, Lycos or Excite.
 
Hopefully not public stuff. Deleting all videos off YouTube from accounts that have been inactive for two years would be a disaster.
personally i am going to be very sad to see google delete chris chan's old accounts. those videos have been mirrored, but i still like that to this day you can access the videos on the account he uploaded them to. RIP in peace to ClydeGreggCashMays.
 
Hopefully not public stuff. Deleting all videos off YouTube from accounts that have been inactive for two years would be a disaster.
While I agree, Google doesn't care. To them YouTube is not meant to be an archive or repository of video content, but a constantly updated stream of new shit that they can monetize.

There's lots of old documentary videos on YouTube (think History Channel, Discovery, and A&E) from accounts that I don't think have been active for some time, so it looks like I'm going to have to start learning how to use those YT download apps.
 
Hopefully they have some sort of system so that videos with over a couple thousand views aren’t deleted. I get why you would want to delete decade old videos with 5 views because there’s probably millions of those taking space. I have a playlist of all of my favorite old videos and half of them would probably get deleted because of this.
 
This is sad because a big part of the Internet culture will probably disappear forever. Songs, parodies, shitpost videos, actual useful tips without bullshit...
Better get yt-dlp on and start downloading the classics.

Google on Tuesday said it would delete accounts that had remained unused for two years starting December, in a bid to prevent security threats including hacks.
More like they want to get some space back.
 
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Account has not been used or signed into for at least 2 years, we may delete the account and its contents – including content within Google Workspace (Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet, Calendar), YouTube and Google Photos.
I don't want to be optimistic about google, but is there anything aside from this one line that indicates that youtube will definitely be included? It's so vague and noncommittal, I don't get the impression they're going to just outright nuke every youtube vid tied to an inactive account.
 
I thought this already was their policy? Other sites have had similar policies in place for years.
 
I don't know how they could possibly get rid of an account without getting rid of everything associated with that account. Every Youtube account is a Google account now and has been for a decade. Is Google going to do what Nexus did with the Skyrim civil war mod?
On one hand, it seems fairly simple. I'm sure they don't properly delete accounts, gotta keep that user data after all, but just remove most of the fluff and hide the rest from public view. It'd be trivial then to just keep the video portion around.

On the other hand it's google in 2023 so assuming any competency is highly 🌈
 
Hopefully not public stuff. Deleting all videos off YouTube from accounts that have been inactive for two years would be a disaster.

That's the idea.

Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped.

1984
 
On one hand, it seems fairly simple. I'm sure they don't properly delete accounts, gotta keep that user data after all, but just remove most of the fluff and hide the rest from public view. It'd be trivial then to just keep the video portion around.

On the other hand it's google in 2023 so assuming any competency is highly 🌈
I doubt they keep the videos. Metadata, sure.
 
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Hopefully they have some sort of system so that videos with over a couple thousand views aren’t deleted. I get why you would want to delete decade old videos with 5 views because there’s probably millions of those taking space. I have a playlist of all of my favorite old videos and half of them would probably get deleted because of this.
It would be smart to do that, as well as vaporizing inactive accounts with no uploads. Maybe instead just nuke most videos coming out of India for the last 10 years?
 
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