11/29/2023
Infrequent Google Users BEWARE!
Beginning December 1, 2023, Google will begin deleting every personal google account and all data associated within if it hasn't been used and accessed in the last 2 years. This affects most google products including Drive, Gmail, Contacts, Calendar, Photos and others.
In order for accounts not to be deleted, users must log in to their individual Google product accounts prior to Friday, December 1, 2023.
"If you have signed into your Google Account or any of our services recently, your account is considered active and will not be deleted," the company said in a May blog post outlining the policy.
https://blog.google/technology/safety-security/updating-our-inactive-account-policies/
Google maintains that they've issued multiple warnings to inactive users about deleting their accounts over the past few months and that deletions will begin first with accounts that were created and then abandoned. Accounts established through a work company, educational institution or other organization will not be deleted. For now. Stay tuned for developments.
To ensure that content is saved from a specific product, it is advised that users sign in to their account via that product's site. For example, to ensure old emails aren't deleted, users should sign into their gmail account. To protect their calendars, they should log into their Google Calendar. According to Google, abandoned videos from YouTube will not be deleted.
Many Google account holders are unaware that they can export data including individual folders, files, documents, etc. using Google's Takeout page.
Google’s Vice President of Product Management, Ruth Kricheli, stated in the May blog that the goal of the update is to limit accounts from being compromised. The blog states that "Forgotten or unattended accounts often rely on old or re-used passwords that may have been compromised, haven't had two factor authentication set up, and receive fewer security checks by the user."
Google states that abandoned accounts are more vulnerable to malicious threats, such as spam, phishing scams and account hijacking. "If an account hasn't been used for an extended period of time, it is more likely to be compromised. This is because forgotten or unattended accounts often rely on old or re-used passwords that may have been compromised, haven't had two factor authentication set up, and receive fewer security checks by the user," the policy update read.
Like Google, DLA encourages Google users to provide a recovery email. It's important to make sure this recovery email in your account settings is updated. Google offers a variety of free tools to help manage user accounts and provide options to backup user data. Google advises: "You can download and export your data to other platforms through our Takeout feature, which has been available for over a decade. Similarly, Inactive Account Manager allows users to decide what happens to their account and data when it becomes inactive for a period of up to 18 months."
