Drives. Most of us have them. Whether they be OneDrives or Google Drives or some other variation of a drive, we’ve all been magically pushed into storing our files onto one over the years. Recently, over the past couple of years since legally and physically transitioning, I’ve run into a problem.
I’ve at random found myself booted from most my drives!
Yep. You heard that right. The place where we as students, faculty, writers, and artists host all of our backups of our own materials at random has locked me out of my own backup space of materials.
You might be asking how this obviously big deal of an issue could happen. I highly doubt anyone is wondering why not having access to their backups of their intellectual property right materials is problematic, but in case you were, let me break that down for you first.
The work of art you create - your ideas - are your intellectual property. You have a right to this property. What you store in your drives is the proof of these creations that exists beyond the dying of a machine. While it is true that IP is a bit more complicated than just abstract ideas, as students or faculty, your work actually is protected by the system that you are in and you are granted protection by the education system as the creator or owner of whatever materials you produce in that system. Legally, no one is allowed to use, copy, or profit off your materials without your consent (World Trade Organization). As a writer or artist it becomes a little more tricky if your ideas are not a trademark or if you are not working toward a copyright; however, the instant it is recognized as working toward such, your drafts fall within this means of conversation (World Intellectual Property Organization).
What prompted this conversation and how did I lose access to my drives?
Whether you move on from a place or get a new phone number, it has no longer become about knowing your password anymore. There are so many layers of security and not one person in the corporate world to contact to actually get access to your email accounts linked to these drives. The instant you get a new phone number, for whatever reason you have to - you are fucked.
I am not sure about you, but I think very few people choose to get a new phone number.
Early this morning I dropped my phone and the screen went blackscreen like my phones have so many times before, but this time, when I went in to get a replacement because I have to have one for my 2-F security systems at work and other places, AT&T literally told me that my account actually doesn’t exist. I was so surprised that they could not find my account at the store that I have had since 2016 that I drove back home and checked for myself, and they were right - AT&T was literally claiming my account no longer exists. The error code the site gave was LU100. I chatted with Andi the robot a little, since there is no person to chat with online, to further investigate, and the robot claimed that I would have to find a new service provider. The robot literally told me that they had forced me off my plan and deleted my account, despite me paying on time and often in excess since 2016, and were going to deny me service. I, of course, took this up with a corporate office, who gave me an auto line for the prepaid number, which was of no use, of course, since my account no longer exists and there was no record of it existing at all.
I’m still waiting to see if AT&T tries to bill me in a week or so here for this plan that they are refusing to give to me as service. I definitely will be watching my banking statements closely and reporting any attempts at defrauding me to an actual fraud specialist on the phone. I still can’t believe that Hailey dropped my ID in his lap so that I would have to bend over to pick it up while helping me - hopefully that was just a tech implant glitch and he just had an arm twitch that was caught on camera. Ardis at corporate had only worked there, allegedly, two months, which might have been why he was not very helpful. He did say “have a nice day” and quickly shoo me out the door so the other customers would not hear about what Andi the robot had said. He must have realized that I was being refused service and that it was not just that my phone and account were experiencing a glitch. This - certainly - is (debatably) illegal. I probably could not make the argument as a transexual, since that status protection is always up for debate, but I definitely could as a queer. The third person who spoke to me very wisely stepped away like I requested and did not engage. Thank you, sir. I did not want you implicated.
All this to say: yes. Date, print, and save major drafts of your work like I do. You may have to type them up again later, but it is better than losing them forever. Flashdrives are great, too, but sometimes have glitches and files shift around mysteriously or go missing or the flashdrive just mysteriously becomes no longer compatible with a computer. Hardcopy for the win!