Google and Your Data

I’ve told you, and told you, and told you but some people aren’t listening. Here’s a tweet from a graduate student who, as part of a Digital Archiving class, had a list of people running in a local election and stored it on her Google drive. Google, of course, deleted it.

The tweet itself is bad enough but follow the thread by clicking on “Read the full conversation on Twitter.” In particular, take a look at this response:

Years of data lost because some Google algorithm got it wrong.

Kramer appears to be pursuing a graduate degree in Library Science so you’d think she’d be a little bit more savvy. Google has a well established track record of doing this sort of thing and as someone interested in digital archiving you’d think she’d know this. Or at least that her professor would.

As I’ve said before, I used to feel sorry for these people but no longer. If you keep committing your data to a service that thinks it’s their duty to delete your data for various dubious reasons, you’re going to get what you deserve. At least backup your data on a portable drive. They’re dirt cheap: even a grad student should be able to afford one. Just don’t expect tears from me.

AFTERWORD

After I wrote this but before I published it, this story appeared. Just think: a million words lost. Irreal knows about a million words and it is, believe me, a lot to lose. To be sure, this is in China but the principle is the same. Commit your work solely to someone else’s computer and you’re going to suffer.

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