Hacker News Reader

Comment by benologist | Hacker News Reader

On a recent thread Google personnel mentioned that ICANN forces all domain providers to backup their data so that any domain provider going bankrupt won't affect domains. However there was no mention of what procedures Google Domains themselves have put in place to protect their customers in case their customers get irreversibly banned somewhere within Google's vast empire.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19178757

If the answer is they keep your domains, like they do with Adsense revenue when they ban accounts, then you should definitely be getting your .dev through a different domain provider who Google cannot avoid cooperating with because of ICANN rules they have to follow.

https://www.searchenginejournal.com/adsense-lawsuit/248135/

View on HN

I used to work for a registry, and ICANN had very strict escrow rules for registrys'.

This was for a real TLD but I suspect that there is something similar for vanity domains.

The new gTLDs are just as much “real TLDs” to ICANN as the older gTLDs and ccTLDs.

The new gTLDs are much more "real" than the ccTLDs in the sense that they are actually governed in ways that protect registrants. A ccTLD operator can unilaterally yank any domain they want with no restrictions whatsoever. They aren't contracted parties.

The original tld expansion was a lot more involved than ponying up your $250,0000 from what I recall.

ICANN is a scam. It should have abolished canned TLDs altogether, but instead turned them into a profiteering scheme.

There’s no reason that a domain can’t end in ANY string. Bingo, no more fake “shortage.”

For what reasons does Google actually ban accounts?

Google owns Youtube, which bans people for any reason they feel like, including people for whom it had become a full-time job with their channel monetization paying the bills.

It is extremely unwise and very much against the founding spirit of the Internet to allow one company this much control, especially one that has shown itself to be censorious in the past.

Wait, does a YT ban extend to all Google products? Does this lock someone out of, say, webmaster tools?

No, it doesn't.

Not normally but they do ban your entire account if their bots believe you've been very naughty.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-47278362

Despite the ban being due to a violation of YT terms of service they lost their entire Google account. > "But because my Google account was terminated as well I didn't have access to my email so I couldn't see what happened."

Now imagine you had a profitable business on Google Cloud and this happened.

There are even horror stories about personal accounts getting banned and the ban subsequently propagating to the corporate GApps account of the violator's employer, thus completely shutting down corporate email and document sharing.

This kind of nonsense happened rather frequently when Google+ was suspending people for using "not-real" names. The suspension extended to youtube, to gmail, and to other services.

Information withheld - https://www.reddit.com/r/k12sysadmin/comments/9qg2vw/google_...

System errors - https://www.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/comments/7nrx07/google_...

We're twenty years in so likely there are actually thousands of legitimate reasons, the problem is their system seems designed to dismiss any evidence to the contrary so a false positive is a lifetime ban too.

>I remember your story. I clicked this expecting to hear that everything is wonderful and you're living the good life. Instead, the nightmare continues. I'm sorry

Something is really fucked up if getting one of your Google accounts banned is a "nightmare".

To everybody who's reading this: make the necessary arrangements to make sure getting one of your Google accounts banned is not the end of the world for you.

Not sure why you're being downvoted, but perhaps lack of empathy? For people dependent on Youtube for their income, it's not easy (or perhaps even possible) to just diversify so you aren't dependent on Google.

Your advice is good tho. Diversify as much as possible so that any one company can't ruin your life.

Maybe, I don't know. The thing is that most people don't make a living out of youtube. But they might have a gmail address, then lots of files in drive or photos, stuff from work in docs, their schedule in calendar... Losing all of that at once is like having the rug pulled from under their feet. I'm just saying: if that's your case, please diversify.

Credit card chargebacks to the Google store can do it.

Reselling a Pixel Phone:

https://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=68066.0

do you have a registrar recommendation? I'm planning on a .dev being my first domain.

I have no good idea how it compares to others these days but Gandi has had pre-registrations for .dev.

I've had good experiences with Namecheap in the past.

I also have a good track record with Namecheap for bussiness and personal domains.

The domains customers aren't tied to Google user accounts. You buy them from the regular registrars like Gandi.net or (heaven forbid) Godaddy, and use them from your dashboards there. You don't have to use a gmail address anywhere.

If you buy them through Google Domains you need your Google account to renew domains, set nameservers etc, which is why these other registrars should be used.

This same argument actually dates back years for not using your web host for your domain registrar, because of contrived problems hindering domain transfers.

But Google Domains ain't issuing this TLD; Google Registry is, and they don't even push their sibling service, it's shown as any other.

So I don't see the relevance in their thread.

Everything I said is true for Google Registry too... and anywhere else Google sells domains. They each should be ensuring domain portability for their respective customers and so far they're not doing that.

Can you clarify what exactly you think we're not doing? (Google Registry, that is.) Transfers are a contractually mandated requirement by ICANN, and we definitely support them.

Also, because of GDPR and WHOIS privacy/proxies, we frequently don't even know who the registrant for a given domain is anyway.

What happens to the domains in your account if your Google account has become banned?

Same question for your colleagues at Google Domains.

What account? There's nothing to login to, you can't buy domains directly on Google Registry.

My bad, it's Google Domains.

What is the support number for people to call when Google locks them out of their account because of an unrelated issue with a separate Alphabet property? There is an established track record for Google screwing over people unfairly.

In addition to using another registrar, it's generally a good idea to use single-purpose email accounts not associated with your identity to log in to places like Gandi and Namecheap.

And definitely use a registrar that supports 2-factor auth.

I think that's what he meant by, "you should definitely be getting your .dev through a different domain provider."

Reply on news.ycombinator.com