All of that said, this is a perfect example of why you should diversify your online services and always, always have an offline backup.
At the end of the day, rules were broken. If you can't handle the repercussions then don't break the rules. Pretty simple.
For example it would not be considered just to cut off someone's foot when they are caught speeding. Yes, they broke a rule, but the punishment is a huge overreaction.
Google now has so many services, that so many people use for so many things (at Google's encouragement!) that cutting off everything for a minor violation of purchase terms seems like an unfair overreaction.
And it's bad business. I am most definitely going to think twice before putting data into Google now. In order to grow, Google needs its users to trust it. This seems like a gross violation of that trust.
However, Google is not only suspending their phone service, they are deleting the user's entire Google account. For some people that goes all the way back to 2004 when Gmail started. That's a hell of a slap in the face, and they are doing it without warning nor chance for appeal.
Even if you agree with Google's stance on this, you must realize that this is horribly negative publicity for them, right? There are people (myself included) who are immediately seeking alternative services and planning to drop Google altogether because of this. It's highly disturbing that they would so casually drop the hammer.
And that wouldn't even be as bad as this, because a lease is a far more legally applicable document unlike TOS's which no one reads. Further, at least your violation there is related to your apartment. The TOS being violated here was for a hardware device that isn't the service being disrupted. And the worst part is that the act that was in violation is one that governments want to encourage, to the point that owners are protected from being sued. Since Google can't attack them the ordinary way, they are using their leverage on those users with their other products to prevent them from conducting this act.
This whole thing is terrible in many ways.
B. ToS are just as legally binding as a lease (provided they are presented in the right manner, which is how Google presents them). No one cares of you actually read them or not. As soon as you check the box that said you read and agree to them, you're legally bound to follow them.
C. No one ever said that repercussions have to match the violation. As I said, perhaps suspending the account is the only way Google can comply or protect themselves legally.
D. Google has no interest in attacking anyone. They simply follow the protocol they set for this occurrence.
The common denominator here seems to be that people are getting outraged that they can't break the rules and get away with it.
Would you expect that to happen? Would you want a lot of sympathy from other people because he just cut you off without prior warning? No?
The whole thing is terrible only in the way that people like this and the dealer who buy up products that are high in demand and low in supply are the scum of the earth. They provide absolutely no value to the supply chain and make life more difficult for honest buyers.
>We may suspend or stop providing our Services to you if you do not comply with our terms or policies or if we are investigating suspected misconduct.
>Using our Services does not give you ownership of any intellectual property rights in our Services or the content you access.
If that's where you're storing your "key" - you should probably re-evaluate your personal storage policies.
You're acting the same as Google. Cold logic, zero humanity. Go hug someone you care about. Maybe even a child or someone elder. Then run through through your head how it would feel telling them what you said.
Google not only cut off services, they cut off access to remove users' content. I don't see how that is defensible.
Countless governments across the world could literally, without any notice, delete all of your data at the drop of a hat on ANY public service. See: megaupload. It's not the job of a free service provider, who literally makes 0 promises of data integrity, to provide you unlimited access to your data until the end of time.
It seems reasonable to hold Google responsible for what they say.
Personally, I lost photos of my kid's Sep 1.
So "why would people complain" ... it's a matter of perspective and maybe ideology.
I would say the other reaction is easier : make sure you have 5 google accounts. One is email and you DO NOT use it for anything even remotely business related.
Besides that: Google is digitally killing people here for doing something whose damage to Google is not obvious to a layperson, and honestly not even obvious to me.
Please do keep in mind: They digitally killed people here in something that looks like pure and petty spite from Google. Some of these people might have relied on their gmail account for their livelihood. (Think remote freelancers, etc.)
You can also look at it like this: The punishment is wildly out of proportion to the crime.