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Google Whacked

posted on April 22, 2010

Yesterday I woke up in NYC and went about my day.

Part of every day is checking my e-mail, calendar and other things. I do almost all of this using Google products.

My phone kept saying that I had the wrong password for my e-mail which was confusing, but I just sort of shrugged and told myself that I’d check my e-mail later in the day.

But, it kept doing it and it wasn’t until I got to the train station that I was able to get on a computer and was then told by Google that my account had been temporarily disabled due to a “perceived violation of either the Google Terms of Service or product-specific Terms of Service.”

I tried going through their SMS code verification as well as every other way I could go and still nothing.

This morning I asked about this on Twitter and someone showed me that Chris Brogan is going through the EXACT same thing.

A hack? Something bigger broken at Google? I don’t know what it is, but I just want my stuff to work. I forgot how much I rely on Google. Time to make backup plans because I’m realizing that up until now I haven’t had any and that is a bad thing!

Any help that you might have is GREATLY appreciated.

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Categories: Rambles

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  • http://www.uppercasewoman.com Cecily

    I can't even imagine. It would be like being cut off from my left arm or something! Good luck getting it fixed.

  • http://www.uppercasewoman.com Cecily

    I can't even imagine! It would be like walking around with an arm cut off. Good luck getting it fixed!

  • http://www.avenue3re.com Lois Ardito

    This did happen to me this fall with my Yahoo email account. I was like a dog with a bone and began by having an instant message chat with their support that was getting us no where. I then insisted over and over again that someone call me and they did! Believe it or not, the reason for the shut down was that I had sent out an email with several addresses and one of the addresses ( according to them) was a questionable account and they blocked that address thus blocking my account! The account they questioned was an account that had their own domain. See if you can get someone to chat with you.
    Hope this helps. And while I have your attention, I want to thank you for chatting with a bit in NYC at the 140conf. I loved your presentation with the location panel….and I can tell based on those sitting around me so did the audience!

    Lois Ardito
    @lardito

  • http://uptownuncorked.com geechee_girl

    I try to remember to send every email through BatchBlue in case this ever happens, but since I started using BB long after Gmail, I have a lot of backlog to add.

    Some folks use Outlook or Thunderbird to archive a copy to their Mac or PC each day by simply checking Gmail and leaving a copy on the Gmail server so it's still available for your phone, etc while on the go via Gmail interface, however, if you are like me this means losing a huge amount of hard drive space.

    Some folks recommended this for me (windows and linux only, so it won't work, sadly) but I am not liking the look of the site and am trying to verify if they are legit – having trouble finding someone who's used them: http://www.gmail-backup.com/contacts

    Of course, all of these solutions require you to get back in to your Gmail to implement them…

    • http://www.cc-chapman.com/ C.C. Chapman

      I'm not SO worried about the back up ramifications of this (although it would suck HARD to lose all that). I'm more bothered about how this is effecting my day to day work at the moment.

      • http://uptownuncorked.com geechee_girl

        I was avoiding mentioning how amazingly TWITCHY it would make me to be out of contact… ;) lol

      • Jason Barone

        I agree. The backup part is somewhat easy, especially with most of Google's great systems. The frustrating part is being locked out, or not being able to see messages that are being sent while you're down.

        While it may sound like a pain, my best suggestion as a fail safe is to setup another free Apps account on an alternate of your main domain. If you're normal email is @cc-chapman.com, I would buy up the @cc-chapman.net and set that up on another Google Apps account.

        Enable POP on the .com, and then setup the .net to download all messages in the .com by “Adding an Account” and setting it up. You also can “Send As” the .com email, from your .net Apps account.

        If you get locked out, mail should still arrive to .com account. I don't believe Google shuts down your account, they have simply locked you out of it. When email arrives to the .com, your .net Apps account will download it via POP automatically. So both accounts are generally in sync, in terms of email.

        You can also use a standard Google account with an @gmail.com address.

        As for your Fail-Safe procedure… Just log into your .net Apps account and you'll have the ability to Receive email (although it will be at a slight delay because of the POP download interval) and Send mail (because you set up the “Send As” feature).

        For syncing Contacts and Docs, your best bet is Export and Import every month or so into your secondary Apps account.

        Also remember, if you own your own domain name and hosting, you always have control over your MX Records. Although you can't move an MX Record to another Apps account very quickly, you can change your MX Record to point to your web server email. You can even input the alternative MX Record beforehand and set its priority number higher than Apps, so it doesn't interfere with mail delivery. Your Fail-Safe procedure would be to log into your hosting account and just bump your alternative MX record priority in front of Apps, so you mail would now route to your mail server instead until you can get things sorted out with Google.

  • http://stevenbuehler.info swbuehler

    All the more important to have some kind of backup (my Apple Mail connected to Gmail, my iCal connected to Google Calendar) in case they cut me off and my BlackBerry stops syncing.

    • http://www.cc-chapman.com/ C.C. Chapman

      Backups are fine, but they do NOTHING for active participation which is what I'm most bothered about. I have the most important data, but I still can't send e-mails to people even though I have other e-mail addresses because people use my gMail one.

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  • http://www.securityweek.com MIke

    Could be that you got hacked. We've seen a significant increase in reports of Gmail accounts being compromised over the past few weeks. Keep trying. Make sure you have a good anti-virus system in place that is updated. Change passwords to any other accounts as well.

  • sam

    CC – We've seen this, in bits and pieces, and generally when an account is logged into from multiple geographic locations. Google (and, I believe AOL) implemented some tracking feature within the past 2 months so that if an account is logged into from too many (in their “mind”) geographic locations (some distance algorithm) then the account is temporarily disabled.

    That might be the problem. Then again, it might not be.

    The fact that Google has $Billions$ in the bank and can't offer any reasonable customer support/relations could be their eventual downfall. Bon chance.

    • http://www.cc-chapman.com/ C.C. Chapman

      I wonder if that is what it is, but going between NYC and Boston to throw that flag feels really weird. Especially since I do it all the time and have done it from further away as well.

      Maybe they made it more strict recently or something. I don't know, but I just wish I had a way to get it fixed and get it fixed soon!

    • Dale R.

      Yes, it's about multiple “concurrent” log ins. So, if your home computer is logged in, then you travel and log in on your mobile or open up laptop and log in from another geographic IP, you should get some warning message.

      I've been getting them on AIM (I know, old school) log ins where laptop, office and mobile are all hitting from different locales. Whether they shut you down or not (google?), who knows?

  • http://www.kristiewells.com Kristie Wells

    I had this happen a couple of months ago where I was locked out of my Gmail account for 3+ days. I had just changed all my passwords and when I tried to log back into Google, the system told me the password I was using was wrong. I tried my old one and it did not accept it either. Tried the password reset. Said I had to refrain from logging in for 24 hours and it would automatically reset so I could try again. It didn't work. I emailed 'support'. No answer. I waited 24 hours, tried password reset again. It did not work. I emailed support again. ::crickets::

    Finally, on the third rotation of a 24 hour hiatus of not logging in, I was finally able to reset my password and log in. It should be noted I never heard back from Google 'support'.

    Thankfully, this happened on a Friday-Monday rotation so not taking me completely out of the work week, but absolutely put a serious dent in my productivity during that time and added a few gray hairs in the process wondering if I would ever get back in. I thought this all started because of my password change, but I have no idea if that was what really triggered it. Maybe just a ghost in the machine. Who knows.

    Was a hard core reminder why using Google products to run mission critical processes (like business email) may not be the smartest of ideas. While I prefer Gmail over Outlook or Entourage, there is no one to call or help when you cannot access your account.

    All I can say is do not try to log in for 24 hours and then see if you can gain access. Good luck!

    • http://www.cc-chapman.com/ C.C. Chapman

      Seems that this sort of thing happens to a lot of people and the ongoing trend is that Google never responds to them which to me is just horrible.

      I point blank LOVE the solutions that Google gives us. I'd pay for most of them in a minute, but after this I'm questioning everything I've always said about them.

      • lzerner

        CC says: “I'd pay for most[Google Solutions] in a minute, but after this I'm questioning…”

        Kristie says: “I would gladly pay a fee for these services if I was guaranteed some level of support and up time.”

        Guys, you *can* pay a fee to be “guaranteed some level of support and up time.” With Google Apps Premier Edition, you get a 99.9% uptime guarantee (see http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/terms/sla.html) and 24/7 phone support for “unavailable service” emergencies (http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?h…).

        99.9% uptime guarantee and 24/7 phone support is “some level of support and uptime.” If you'd gladly pay a fee for that, the fee is $50/year ($4.17/month).

      • http://www.kristiewells.com Kristie Wells

        Well hells bells, lookie there. I completely forgot I *can* pay for this. Thank you. Upgrading to a paid service level now, so I can really get on my soap box if/when something happens. :)

    • http://www.kristiewells.com Kristie Wells

      Another clarifying comment – using FREE products for mission critical services may not be the smartest move. Does not matter if it is Google, Twitter, Facebook, etc. None of these services offer support even though they are all heavily funded. Frosts my ass really.

      Like C.C. I would gladly pay a fee for these services if I was guaranteed some level of support and up time. <looks at Twitter>

  • http://www.studionashvegas.com studionashvegas

    You can set up in the Forwarding/Pop settings of Google Mail (Apps or Gmail) to forward a copy of every received mail to another email address. The sent mail can be copied with a filter to scan your Sent Mail folder and send it along to the same spot.

    I know it doesn't help you at this moment, but once you get back in you can at least take precautions in the future, just in case.

    • http://www.cc-chapman.com/ C.C. Chapman

      Honestly I know how to do this, but it isn't even my biggest concern. While losing any and all of my e-mail would be horrible, I'm more concerned about everything else.

      I live my online life on Google products. Wave, Reader, Calendar and gMail are active parts of my life and not being able to use any of them is truly getting in the way of being productive and I hate that feeling.

  • http://www.kristiewells.com Kristie Wells

    Had to add…I still use Gmail even after I went through this lock out. Guess I have not learned a lesson here yet. ::Google junkie::

    • http://www.cc-chapman.com/ C.C. Chapman

      *laugh*

      Like I said in my other reply, I love the products Google puts out there. They've replaced just about everything for me and even after this I plan on them still being part of my life, but really wondering….

  • http://www.gcalbackup.com GCalBackup

    CC.,

    we're working on a solution to just this problem (for Google Calendar, at least). Check out http://www.gcalbackup.com for more details.

    Feel free to signup and we'll keep you informed when the backup solution is up and running

  • http://chelpixie.com/ Chel Wolverton

    If I were locked out of Google it would seriously cripple me because I manage ALL of my project info in Gmail.

    I'm downloading Thunderbird and backing up all of it this weekend. I can't say I share your pain and honestly don't want to ;)

    • http://www.cc-chapman.com/ C.C. Chapman

      I'm right there with you on the pain. That is for damn sure.

      I've got backups of my mail, but that doesn't help any when you actually want to USE the e-mail :)

      • http://chelpixie.com/ Chel Wolverton

        I know especially since *I* couldn't email you. Which is why I didn't say make a backup ;)

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