Google Docs Accidentally Locks People Out of Their Own Drafts

Many Google Doc users reported being locked out of completely innocuous documents they were drafting due to "inappropriate content" on Wednesday in what the company later said was an error that has since been fixed, Mashable reported.

"This morning, we made a code push that incorrectly flagged a small percentage of Google docs as abusive, which caused those documents to be automatically blocked," the company said. "We apologize for the disruption and will put processes in place to prevent this from happening again."

Google Docs is a part of Google Drive, where users can access their documents and other items from any computer.

The Verge reported that the bug was concerning, because it appears that Google is scanning documents for content, and something in the company's procedures is not operating correctly.

The problem started as many Google Docs users discovered that they were not alone in being locked out as they tried to edit their drafts and received a message warning them that their documents violate Google's terms of service.

Various users learned that others were having similar problems via their Twitter accounts and other social media.

The problem raised a warning flag, especially since many of the users were journalists who work in Google Docs as a drafting tool, increasing concerns about how much control a user has over his or her own content.

As the Inquirer put it, "While it might seem like 'no harm done' if access is fully restored, the simple fact that Google can (at any time) cut off access to all your private files in a way that means you can't use them at all will make a lot of people nervous about using Google's cloud-based Drive services without a local backup."

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