Comment by chmod775 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by chmod775 | Hacker News Reader

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> What happens if one of the big tech companies makes a mistake and closes your account?

I think most people would be... just fine? Personally I'm from a culture that is very distrusting of those big platforms anyways, so people are even less likely to rely on them. If my mom lost access to her google account she would be fine, my dad wouldn't notice (he has been using his own e-mail domain forever), neither would my brother (since he makes a new google account with every phone anyways, having forgotten his previous password), and I wouldn't be bothered much either. I've also been doing fine professionally for 15 years and don't even have a LinkedIn account.

It's a similar picture for everyone around me. Some Facebook account or whatever may have seemed important when we were 16, but by and large people grow out of that vain phase, or even grow out of using the likes of Facebook at all. Nowadays whatever can deliver a message will do. There's a dozen ways to each anyone.

If losing access to any one account is a big deal for you, that's more than a major technological literacy failure - it's a basic life planning failure. Do not overly rely on a single thing controlled by people you cannot trust. Even my grandmother would know better.

>If losing access to any one account is a big deal for you, that's more than a major technological literacy failure - it's a basic life planning failure. Do not overly rely on a single thing controlled by people you cannot trust. Even my grandmother would know better.

uhhuh. While it's a good idea to have backup plans and to exercise independence, people usually aren't accustomed to losing substantial parts of their livelihood for no reason and having no recourse. There's no reason to form a backup plan for a scenario that shouldn't occur. We depend on services all the time whose providers we can't control. That's modern life. What would a backup plan look like here for the average person? Do you think your average tech savvy person has taken those steps?

The intention with this post isn't to defend unpreparedness. But there is a point to be made that cutting somebody off, through some technical loophole, shouldn't be a thing. And companies know that. Every so often they get called out in public by somebody with a lot of traction and they correct the problem. So it's only a problem if it gains enough visibility. That's the system.

Backup plan? You are missing the point. If you need a backup you already messed up. The only entities that should need backups of anything but treasured photos are businesses.

If you don't bank on the assumption that you will always have access to some random mail account and instead treat it like a discardable glove, you don't need a backup plan.

Lost access to your mail account and forgot your PW to to some random other account? Whatever. Make a new account, tell your friends. Happens all the time.

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