[joshfraser]

In other words, they are socializing the costs. Servers and electricity aren't free. Wouldn't it be better for the customer if they had no accident forgiveness and passed those cost savings along? Instead, you are paying for other peoples mistakes plus all the extra overhead caused from fraud that they incentivized.

[tptacek]

No, it would be worse if we "passed these cost savings along".

[trjordan]

The servers are already bought; the electricity cost is negligible for actual accidents.

As mentioned in the post: the hosting providers don't actually pay marginal costs for transient mistakes, so neither should honest customers.

[joshfraser]

And what about the extra costs fighting fraud now that they've advertised this policy?

[DAlperin]

We have to invest in fighting fraud and abuse anyway, such is the public cloud business. We don't intend to diminish user experience in service of fighting it.