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by yjftsjthsd-h 1111 days ago
> despite GP's remark about 'paying for resource usage', cloud providers don't actually anticipate anyone using 100% of CPU 24/7/365

Unless that's exposed to the customer (AWS burstable instances are actually okay IMO), that sounds like the cloud provider committing fraud and hoping nobody calls their bluff.
2 comments
Sebguer 1111 days ago
You don't know what the word fraud means, and I recommend reading these crazy things called 'terms of service'.
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yjftsjthsd-h 1111 days ago
> The crime of stealing or otherwise illegally obtaining money by use of deception tactics.

> Any act of deception carried out for the purpose of unfair, undeserved and/or unlawful gain.

(https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fraud#Noun)

Is the cloud provider getting money off of this arrangement? => Yes, obviously they're getting paid here.

Is the cloud provider getting that money as a result of deception? => Yes, by selling ex. the use of 1 CPU core when they actually have no intention of letting you use that core. Now, I'll grant that in an actual legal case it might well be possible to get away with this by burying it in the ToS, but this is HN, not a court room, so I'm comfortable setting the bar at "would most actual users expect that to happen based on marketing?", conclude that no, most users would consider that surprising even if there's something buried in the ToS claiming that it's allowed, and call a spade a spade.

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parpfish 1111 days ago
the problem is that the terms of service say "don't mine crypto", and I'm not. they've set up an imperfect detection mechanism and I'm one of the false positives but have no meaningful way to prove my innocence.

the worst part is that there's somebody in a GCP office somewhere that might secretly believe that I'm actually a cryptobro. shudder

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sigstoat 1111 days ago
> the worst part is that there's somebody in a GCP office somewhere that might secretly believe that I'm actually a cryptobro.

you're probably safe on that front, it isn't like the GCP folks are paying any attention to the customers.

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cowsup 1111 days ago
It's more akin to a gym membership. You can sign up to a gym promising you 24/7/365 access, but if you and a couple buddies decide to walk 1mph on the treadmill to work on your laptops from dusk til dawn, preventing anyone else from using them, you'll be asked to leave.

In either case (gym or GCP) you'll be entitled to a refund for the difference. They aren't allowed to just kick you out and pocket the difference.

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