Google Photos download feature mixed up users' archives
Your videos could have been downloaded with someone else's data export, Google admits
Users of Google Photos who requested a Google "Download your data' export in November may have been given videos belonging to other users, or have received incomplete archives.
The company has casually admitted that a "technical issue" affected the feature between 21st November 2019 and 25th November 2019, according to an email to users.
"Unfortunately, during this time, some videos in Google Photos were incorrectly exported to unrelated users' archives. One or more videos in your Google Photos account was affected by this issue," the Google email admits.
It continues: "If you downloaded your data, it may be incomplete, and it may contain videos that are not yours."
It added that the underlying cause of the technical glitch had been identified and resolved. "We recommend you perform another export of your content and delete your prior export."
Jon Oberheide, chief technology officer of security firm Duo Security, took to Twitter to publicise the issue, given the manner in which Google had admitted it.
" I hope the number of affected parties is small, but the impact to those parties could be high...and very unsettling. But my real beef is with this nonchalant and non-specific notification email," tweeted Oberheide.
The admission coincided with the release of Google's fourth-quarter and full-year 2019 results. Although revenue growth was robust, it came in lower than expected with the company filing full-year revenues of $98.12 billion.