Aallannott.techAccount justice for the people big tech ignores
Self-defense for your digital life

Preserve the Trail.

The reason they lock you out is to clean your trail of proof. Messages disappear. Receipts vanish. Contacts go dark. The dispute becomes your word against an empty screen. This page is the antidote: a free, do-it-today playbook to copy every shred of evidence off their servers and onto something they can't reach — plus a way to get a real human to sign a receipt saying 'on this date, these files existed.'

The pattern you're seeing

A platform's automated system flags your account. You appeal. While the appeal sits in a queue, the same system quietly disables exports, blocks forwarding, kills API access, and starts the 30-day deletion timer. By the time a human looks — if one ever does — there's nothing left to argue about. The lockout is the evidence destruction. Treat it that way.

Do these today, in this order

  1. Pull a full export from every platform you still have access to.
  2. Set up forwarding to a second mailbox you control elsewhere. Gmail → Settings → Forwarding. Outlook → Rules → Forward. Use a mailbox on a different provider (Fastmail, Proton, your own domain). If they lock the primary, the forward keeps catching incoming proof.
  3. Screen-record the account while it's still alive. Free tools: OBS, QuickTime (Mac), Game Bar (Windows). Scroll slowly through threads, settings, billing history, follower lists, purchase receipts. A 5-minute video is harder to dismiss than a screenshot.
  4. Save the URLs to the Internet Archive. Paste any public profile, post, listing, or storefront into web.archive.org/save. The Archive's timestamp is admissible in many jurisdictions and can't be retroactively edited by the platform.
  5. Export contacts and customer lists separately. Google Contacts → Export → vCard. Instagram followers → DYI. Shopify/Etsy customers → CSV. These are the hardest things to rebuild and the first things you lose.
  6. Hash and witness the archive. Once you have your folder of exports, compute a SHA-256 hash of each zip (shasum -a 256 file.zip on Mac/Linux, certutil -hashfile file.zip SHA256 on Windows). On a Wall call, read the hashes aloud to the verifier. The signed receipt then proves this exact bundle existed on that date — even if the platform later wipes the originals.
  7. Store the archive in three places. One local drive, one cloud (not the same provider as the platform you're protecting against), one offline (external SSD in a drawer). The phrase is 3-2-1: three copies, two media, one off-site.

Witnessed-evidence receipt (free, via The Wall)

On a Wall call, you don't have to show ID. You can instead show the verifier:

  • • The folder of exports (file names + sizes, on screen).
  • • The SHA-256 hashes you computed.
  • • Any open browser tab proving access existed at that moment (billing page, sent folder, admin dashboard).

The verifier signs a receipt: "On [date], [alias] demonstrated possession of an archive with these hashes and live access to these accounts." That receipt is citable in chargebacks, small-claims court, CRTC/FTC/EU DSA complaints, and any future appeal.

Book a witness call →Verifier: issue an evidence receipt

If you're already locked out

  1. Stop guessing the password. Repeated failures push the account further into the automated-lockout flow and reset recovery timers.
  2. File a data-access request under GDPR (EU/UK), CCPA (California), or PIPEDA (Canada). Platforms are legally required to give you a copy of your data even when your account is disabled. Template at /letter.
  3. Pull whatever lives off-platform. Bank statements showing charges. Emails sent to you from the platform (in your other inbox). Screenshots friends took of your posts. Wayback Machine snapshots from before the lockout.
  4. Book a Wall call and have the verifier witness the lockout itself — the error screen, the failed recovery attempt, the timestamp. That receipt becomes the anchor of the appeal.

The bigger fight

Self-defense is necessary but not sufficient. The reason any of this is needed is that a handful of companies decided one-sided automated judgment was acceptable as long as it was profitable. The same week you back up your data, also sign the per-platform petitions, send a real letter, and share your story. Backups protect you. Pressure protects everyone else.

Why this page exists: Several people told us the lockout was the cover, not the cause — the platform needed the evidence gone before a regulator, a journalist, or a court could see it. They were right. This page is the response.