[josecastillo]

I think it would ameliorate a lot of the fear, uncertainty and doubt around this situation if Google could answer the following question: Does the user in question currently have the ability to extract the data he had in Google services, and if not, will Google provide him with his data?

If there's no way to answer that question without compromising his privacy, can Google at least share its policy on data liberation in situations such as this, and publicize it broadly via the Data Liberation Front?

[m8urn]

Right, and this is what has caused millions of people to panic today and realize that Google really can't be trusted with our data. If someone hacks you and does something with your account, or even if you just do something stupid, years of data is just gone like that with no explanation. Now to me Google is just as unreliable as keeping all my data on a single hard drive with no backup.

[Matt_Cutts]

Here's the resolution: http://www.twitlonger.com/show/bvqdos That explains why providing the data back to the user was a delicate issue.