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.
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.
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.
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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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/