[drawkbox]

Definitely a reason I have always paid for Gmail/Drive before it was that. But the actual reason is quite scary why it triggered the issue:

"My data was intact save for the last thing I’d worked on–a spreadsheet containing a client’s account numbers and passwords. It seems that Google’s engineers determined this single document violated policy and locked down my entire account. My request to get that document back is still pending."

So you can't keep files you need to secure in Drive? Blown away by this. And the access to the entire ecosystem based on one document. This is not good. With that logic if there is a DCMA request or problem with a video on youtube the whole site should just shut down.

[falcolas]

If this file is indeed the cause of the account closure... what happens if you're using a Chromebook? Then not only do you loose access to that computer, you are restricted to what kind of content you can create and store on your computer.

I hope this gentleman is wrong. I really do.

[dunham]

It's plausible. I've personally seen phishing done via google docs. And, at one point, Oxford blocked google docs because of phishing. So phishing via docs is probably a common occurrence.

To combat this, I wouldn't be surprised if Google had software that tried to detect this (maybe look for spreadsheets of username/passwords), and shut down the accounts associated with it.

[bradleybuda]

Spreadsheets of usernames and passwords are very common - many companies use this to share access internally (not that that's a good idea, but that's a different topic). I've talked to dozens who haven't had their Google accounts shut down. I'd be truly surprised if this was the only reason for the ToS violation.

[epochwolf]

Extremely common. Everyone on my team has a spreadsheet full of usernames, passwords and API keys for test data.

[badideabear]

I'm more appalled that he's storing his client's account passwords in a spreadsheet. It's ridiculously easy to accidentally share the wrong doc with the wrong people.

[prostoalex]

Isn't the deal with Google Docs that you can revoke that access a second after you realize you made the mistake? Unlike, say, sending the doc as an attachment?

[robryan]

What would be the best practice way to do this? Everyone could store a list in an unconnected way but it becomes an issue when passwords are changed and new entries are made to the list.

[magicalist]

It seems extremely unlikely that you could determine the problem from "the last thing I'd worked on", and it seems even more unlikely that a spreadsheet with (barring any additional information from this story) account numbers and passwords would auto-trigger a shutdown: there would be so many false positives that most people would have had their accounts closed by now.