A friend shared this to me, good reminder to not put all your eggs into 1 basket. 
Also, self-hosting rocks! 
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I saw this yesterday.
It should also be noted that while not putting your eggs in one basket may be good advice in general, itās also important to ensure youāre choosing the right provider if you do choose to put your eggs in one basket for the cost saving and convenience thatās important to many people.
In general, this means never choosing big tech companies that lock you in with no interoperability. They simply have too much control over your digital life and that should scare anyone.
In the end it comes down to being able to evaluate a provider for its services and pros and cons with it. Thatās someone PG can teach how to do holistically to ensure you always have the digital freedom to move between services relatively easily.
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Thereās no way I will give that amount of money and important data to anyone who doesnāt have living person in support I can contact and who would actually help me in case of such issues. And HQ in less than a 10h driving distance.
The only thing where I might be in such trouble is Steam. Thereās nothing against the rules Iām doing, but itās still automated system, so it wouldnāt surprise me. But even for games, my purchases are split between them and GOG, plus itās a few hundreds in period of 10+ years, not (tens of) thousands. And of course, thatās far less important than 20 years of personal data, family photos, important conversations or work related stuff people loose when they rely solely on Apple or Google, Meta or Microsoft.
Funny thing is - at least once a year such story comes to the top of the tech news, and yet people who actively read tech news end up in the same situation. Probably thinking: āThis canāt happen to me, Iām premium user/important customer/famous/āadd_excuseāā. And not to mention financial decisions, when 8TB HDD costs ~200$, less than a one year 6TB icloud subscription. You donāt consider spending 200$ for backup of 20 years of digital life, and at the same time youāre spending tens of thousands for devices and cloud storage. I donāt even feel sorry for the guy, but I hope heāll get his account back.
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Yeah idk what it is I often feel it wonāt affect me but deep down I know that it will happen and laziness will get to the best of me
I really need to invest in something like a 4tb backup as soon as possible!
but yeah this is just worse, weāve seen what happene With Google and the Dad and now this and I guess people never learn, they just cross their fingers hoping they donāt get affected and when the do itās too late.
This is also a problem with say the Messenger dilemma and all that good stuff people actually believe that āWhy do I need to use a different email provider, Nothings is wrong with itā but everyone should realize you will never know what happens tommorow Something could become illegal and something Something say on your Gmail was caught to be as such, and then it will probably be too late to protect it now.
I wonder if thereās an effect name that makes it so that people refuse to make a switch and only make them if it affects them
Edit: I guess there is, Postponement of affect
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Whatās this one? I think I missed this one.
The dad did not get the account back, data lost, even despite being proven innocent.
Which is exactly why I hate it when someone says āOh well if you were proven innocent you will be fineā
No you are not and it will not last
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This is just pathetic for a company like apple.
Especially the fact that they donāt allow him to escalate the support case. Iām not sure from where he comes, but here in the EU big tech is required to allow any escalation of any support request.
Even if they try to make it as complicated as hell (Microsoft).
This story is absolutely awful. It reminds us, once again, of the dangers of locked digital ecosystems. Carissa VĆ©lizās recent TEDx TAlk about the power and value of the analogue rings even more true. I made my comments about it here.
I find it unconscionable that this person has $30 000 worth of devices locked because of this, not to mention the financial and emotional cost to his professional and personal life.
I wonder what triggered the lock. Is it the source of the gift card (store), the amount ($500), or both?
This makes me wonder if Apple and, I guess all companies that provide gift cards, can trace them back to the reseller they sold it too. If yes, then Iām very worried.
I am planning to buy Google Play Store and Apple App Store gift cards from countries I donāt live and have no ties to protect my privacy. For Google, I plan to do this with an anonymous account. I was going to buy the gift cards from CakePay who accepts anonymous payments via Monero.
Now because of this story, I am thinking that Apple can probably trace all the gift cards they sold to Cake Pay, and hence all the users who bought them from them. They could easily lock those users to because they went out of their way to protect their privacy.
What this man went through could easily and absolutely happen with Proton for any reason:
Thanks for posting this, I was trying to post it but canāt seem to get past whatever blocks new accounts from making posts.
Felt like an anti-Apple story when I first read it, but now I have mostly settled on it being a failure of modern governments to regulate digital providers when so much of our life is dependent on digital goods and services.
A post on the HN thread points to this as a possible source/method.
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Wow. Does that mean itās safer to buy gift cards digitally, as in online? If so, there are very few places that would allow you to buy them anonymously. And not everyone is comfortable using cryptocurrency, which is why cash will always be king. It just goes to show that you should always verify the validity of your gift cards before you buy them physically.
I am planning to buy Google Play Store and Apple App Store gift cards from countries I donāt live and have no ties to protect my privacy. For Google, I plan to do this with an anonymous account. I was going to buy the gift cards from CakePay who accepts anonymous payments via Monero.
This does not work.
Google Play gift cards needs to be bought, activated and spend in the same country. If the country is different google will lock the gift card and the money is gone. In addition, your account might get terminated if you have terrible luck.
I should also mention that Google sometimes requires additional information where you need to send a photo of the gift card, the receipt of the payment and give them details about where, how and when you bought it. If you donāt provide this information or the information is false/inaccurate the gift card is locked, and the money is gone, but the account gets not terminated.
Happens to me multiple times by now. And donāt try to bypass this with VPNs, if they detect a VPN such āadditional Informationā check will be triggered instantly.
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Typically, gift cards are stolen from a brick n mortar store, the cards are spent, resealed, and returned to the store. A customer buys the same card which flags the system.
Make sure to get your cards from a store that has them under lock and key. At least then, you only need to worry about the staff doing the crime.
Are you 100% sure of this?
It sounds insane to me because there are many people who move to other countries, and when they do, they donāt change their Google Play Store country. In other words, many Americans who move to Italy will keep their Google Play Store account American, and will not switch to the Italian play store. This is very common.
What about people in those situations?
I am confident that if those American bought an American Play Store gift card online, and applied it to their accounts while living in Italy, it would work.
Also, what about Europeans who travel a lot between countries?
A French person can spend a weekend in Spain, and change his app store country to Spain while he is there by buying a Spanish gift card in a store.
Unlike Apple, one thing that has never been clear with Google, is if they base your app store country on your location (IP address) or the location of your payment method (credit card or gift card).
With Apple, itās clear. Your location is based on your payment information. If you live in Italy and only have an American credit card, you can only purchase from the American app store. Unless, of course, if you use an Italian gift card that you purchase in a store in Italy.
My auntās experience with a VPN
My aunt has never purchased anything from the Google Play Store. I once installed a VPN on her computer, which always connected to the same country, which is different from the country my aunt lives in. After months of checking her email with the VPN connected to the same country, my aunt received an email from Google saying that they were switching her account to that country.
How do you explain that?
That is excellent advice!
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It sounds insane to me because there are many people who move to other countries, and when they do, they donāt change their Google Play Store country. In other words, many Americans who move to Italy will keep their Google Play Store account American, and will not switch to the Italian play store. This is very common.
Yes.
Here are some sources to back my claims:
A French person can spend a weekend in Spain, and change his app store country to Spain while he is there by buying a Spanish gift card in a store.
This could work, but Iām not sure.
Google doesnāt say anywhere how there system works exactly.
Do you have any sources documenting failed attempts?
I didnāt check out the details of the terms, but when they say āCard is valid only in the country of purchaseā, it could easily be interpreted as, I canāt use an Italian gift card in the American app store, which makes perfect sense.
People are less likely to think that it means they canāt use an Italian gift card in the Italian app store, if they are not physically in Italy.
Do you have any sources documenting failed attempts?
My own experience and here are some users complaining:
Thanks!
Do I get it right that if Apple bans you, they not only lock you out of iCloud and other online services but also lock you out of your own devices?
I am happy to be a Linux user
lock you out of your own devices?
Yes and no.
To install apps, update your software use some features on the MacBook you need an apple ID without it or locked ID you canāt do these things anymore.
Itās not unusable, but you canāt install things anymore, update, upgrade, use some features.
As far as I understand it. I donāt use Apple anywhere, just had some experience where I came in touch with it at work.