Never Trust a Single Company

Manton Reece, a developer and long-time Apple user, recently lost permanent access to his Apple ID. And he didn’t even do anything wrong. The result: 20 years of photos, messages and data? Gone. A true worst case scenario! But let’s have a look, should we learn something from that?

First of all: This isn’t just an Apple issue. Google, Microsoft, and other companies have similar stories. One day, you’re a loyal user, the next, you’re locked out. And better not rely on customer service!

The lesson is clear: Never trust a single company. Better be safe than sorry.

The Risk of Single Points of Failure

Relying on one provider might be appealing and easy, but it’s a gamble as well:

• Lockouts do happen. Of course this is the exception, otherwise those companies would be out of business. But this doesn’t help you when you ARE the exception.
• Data loss is permanent. Often enough peopple do not regain access.
• You’re not in control. There’s no warning in advance and customer service often can’t help either.

Okay, this really does not sound good! But how should one prepare for such a disaster?

Awareness

The first step is clearly “Awareness“. And as you read this, you can mark this as checked.

I would recommend listing all kinds of services that you’re using, which companies you are relying on and what would happen if you loose access to the respective service. (Hint: email might be the worst).

If you want to take it serious and don’t want to stress yourself: Make a list and fill it over time. Also keep in mind how you sign up to the services: Signing up everywhere with your Apple Id / GMail Account is easy – but also adds a dependency to this service. That doesn’t neet to be bad – as long as you are aware of it.

Mitigation

Okay, now that you are aware of the services, dependencies and relevance it’s time for mitigation. In company speak this would be a “Disaster Recovery Plan“. But let’s keep it simple.

I would suggest thinking about three options:

• Back up to local storage or another cloud service. Make the back up process easy and regular. And test your backups from time to time! You don’t want to learn that a backup is broken when you desperately need it.
• Diversify — consider using different platforms for photos, emails, files — and backups .
• Self-host — consider solutions like Nextcloud, Syncthing or an own NAS! This put you in more control of your data and reduces dependency on another company. But don’t forget: if you self-host a service using some provider, this is a dependency as well.

Don’t Learn it First Hand

Manton Reece’s experience is a reminder of how fragile digital trust can be. While his story serves as a valuable warning, it’s a lesson no one should have to learn firsthand. Here’s to hoping he regains access — or at least finds a way forward.

For us it should be a warning: Take control of your data before someone else does.