Google admits it deleted some customer data after 'technical issue' Google has admitted it lost some customer data, possibly forever. The data was stored in Google Maps’ Timeline feature, which – for those of you who let Google track you around the world – preserves a record of locations you visit. That sounds creepy and perhaps creepier still once you realize Google makes it possible for …
AGAIN!!!
Fixed it...
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/05/google-cloud-accidentally-nukes-customer-account-causes-two-weeks-of-downtime/
https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/20/google_cloud_network_outage/
Etc etc etc..
Anyone who put their data on Google is a moron
Those who haven't previously lost data like this and don't read the likes of El Reg and arstechnica aren't necessarily morons, they're just ill-informed.
My children's school uses Google Classroom. I would like to have seen them have a similar problem: today's lesson is on the very real risks of storing all your data in someone else's computer.
The data in question, i.e. the Maps timeline, is stored on the phone with an optional backup to the cloud. The deletion must have been caused by a bug in the Maps app.
The people who opted to enable the backup are able to restore the data to their phone. Seems to me that choice is not moronic at all.
The storing of data on the phone is new. Until sometime towards the end of last year it used to be stored in the cloud and accessible to all of your devices. So it is possible that not everybody remembered to get it copied across.
it's only a backup if there are two copies. If the backup copy is deleted you should have the original. if the original is lost, you should have the backup. if you only have one copy the off site those are an archive. lose that and it's probably gone forever. Always have at least two copies of data you don't want to lose. That's one of the problems with "onedrive". by default all your data is moved to the cloud. if something goes wrong with that it's gone. hopefully ms has a "backup" for their alleged backup system.
"Turning tracking off wouldn't present a potential alibi. "
Nor would it be damning since tech can fail for all sorts of reasons.
I keep everything off on my phone (WF, BT, Loc, Data) unless I'm using them at the moment. The phone is also de-Googled. Sure, I'm still leaving breadcrumbs, but not entire loaves of bread as a trail. If I were to consider taking up a life of crime, I'd not be bringing my phone along and might plant it on the other side of town doing some innocuous pre-programmed web browsing to look like it's me having a quite evening.
Unless they have any evidence saying you weren't in the same place your phone says you were, and instead of eliminating location evidence as unreliable, they spin it as you deliberately leaving your phone behind to create an alibi. That would work against you. Not tracking the location at all might be the more reliable, because lack of evidence is harder to spin against you.
I've been receiving periodic messages for several months relating to a relative's account regarding changes to the Timeline implementation:
You have Timeline turned on for your account, which helps you go back in time and remember where you've been. With Timeline, your visits and routes are automatically saved to a map on each of your devices. This is a reminder that Timeline is changing. Now, if you choose to keep Timeline on, all of your devices will save new visits on their own Timelines — including any devices that previously had Location History reporting turned off. Because of these changes, you need to choose new settings to avoid losing Timeline data.
Not that correlation is causation, of course, but it seems like a data loss was already scheduled, if not for this weekend.
Yes, I received that email telling me that perhaps my Timeline data was gone, and it was :(
I'm fed up with them mucking about with Timeline. I used to enjoy being able to look at Timeline on my PC, but they took that away. Such a hassle to view it on the mobile screen, but anyway, that's what was left.
Luckily I had the Encrypted Backups turned on that they suggested a while back, so my Timeline data is back.
But the day will come when they either delete and lose my data completely, or they'll reduce the functionality till it's no longer useful.
"Google admits it deleted some customer data after 'technical issue'". Google engineers quickly isolated and fixed issue, but not quickly enough for some user profiles it would seem.
"The email goes on to" apologize to users as profiling will not be as in-depth or as privacy invasive as their users have come expect and deserve from Google.
If the user has a backup of their timeline they can retore it. If they do not they should reply to this email with a detailed itinerary of what they have done and where they have been for the last 3 years, along with any relevant photos. So Google can once again provide the privacy invading data stealing service our user deserves.
As of a few months ago Google only store data on your phone, its not shared anywhere. The issue was that backup of timeline was switch off by default so there are probably plenty of people who have lost data they wanted. And yes there are plenty of people who know about data slurping but timeline is a useful feature. I did read that timeline might be going away completely which would be a shame.
This. Allegedly, the system broke up in a way that made the phones briefly believe that the user did not want to keep the data — which is the default — and so it got deleted.
Thankfully, I did have backups. I find it a very useful feature. It used to be better when the data was in the cloud and you could see it on the desktop, you could easily see a map of everywhere you've been and when; now it's a bit less user friendly.
It's why the only Google product I use is my nest thermostat, which I bought before they were bought by Google. I was looking at Wiz as a potential firm to investigate for clients in the future but they're being bought by Google it seems so that's a no go.
Everything Google touches turns to shit
The e-mail said if you had encrypted backups enabled then it shows you can restore from the backup. A couple of months ago Google stopped sync'ing timeline and it would only be stored on the phone, at the same time you had to enable to save data else it would be auto deleted. What seemed to be missing from those instructions is enabling backups as well.
Thinks this is all a bit deliberate.
I expect Google to be blaming the "nasty pro privacy people" for making Google change Timeline handling which led to this unfortunate data loss.
.. Then coming out with please such as see what happens when the nasty pro privacy people win, you lose data you really enjoyed, don't let the pro privacy bullies win again or who knows what you might lose next - wouldn't want to lose photos, email, phone contacts, youtube videos etc......
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