Put Down by the Man (yet again)

Some may have noticed that the posts regarding a certain (faux rock star), con-man's exploits and travels through the Nevada state and Federal justice system, (including publicly available booking records and images of the scum), have been pulled from view. This is a highly unfortunate circumstance where a compliant was made by some vigilant creep-lover and my main google account was disabled after an international journalist wrote a couple of articles on the situation and generated some attention and visits to my blog. Some might say, "Oh gosh, that's too bad. You can't get to your emails." No-no-no, it's much much more than that. I have maintained that account for over TEN YEARS, amassing countless emails, keepsake announcements, love notes, contacts, critical and sensitive family information, etc.; that's just in the email product. I also used Google Docs (now Drive), and had massive amounts of documents there, historical information on ALL my music bookings, a huge database of band names my friends and I conceived, along with extensive original content that I created and shared with the community. This account shutdown also included my extensive YouTube posts and play lists, google Voice Numbers, google Music, Reader feeds, Sketch-up 3-D drawings, and even an entire google site. The loss of all this data could have been avoided regardless of the unfounded witch-hunt and insult upon injury after my losses at the hand of this con-man and cohorts, with a simple backup of my data. I've been burned before on this principle; apparently I am a slow learner. =P

Back-up Your Data!

Google says that they believe your data stored on their systems is owned by you and you should be able to retrieve it and back it up at-will. This right goes right away if they disable your account based upon any accusation. The process to appeal this action is also very hollow. The only recourse available, besides retaining a lawyer to write a letter, is to use their feedback form. They don't offer a case number or any other trace-ability, and the only expectation set for a response is that they will contact you if they have any info to share or if they require any further info. I never, ever, heard back from them. In fact, after daily, relentless searching and posts of pleas to retrieve my data for three-weeks solid I found a product forum member that has some sort of "in" at google. The response I received from him was that the case had "been forwarded to the appropriate department"; big, brown, goose-egg. I used to be a real true-believer in the big G; their mission of "Do no evil" seems to be a bit of PR wizardry at this point and I'll certainly be keeping my eye on them while I keep MY data safe from their careless policies and processes.

So now I'm working through the final stage of grief; accepting that I don't have a back up and the matthew.g.jones account is gone forever. This process has also helped me come to the realization that google really has two faces and the user has not a leg to stand on when faced with a cold shutdown.

Moral of this ramble: Back-up your stuff!!! https://www.google.com/takeout/

P.S. I totally understand that this kind of uncensored free-speech may lead to yet another account of mine being disabled by the google overlords and nancy-negative busy-body blog-readers. Eff you, eff you right in the A.

<end of rant>