My response to Amazon banning rclone

Help and Support
1

This incident really frustrates me, as I’m using rclone + ACD to back up my data across all my machines. I understand ncw is actively working on restoring it. But I still would like Amazon to know my position as a customer. Here’s what I did, and I encourage everyone who cares to do similar, hoping this could gain some traction for ncw to address the issue (feel free to use my response as a template):

I went to ACD, top right corner -> click “send us feedback” -> select 1 star, and fill in the below response. In addition, I stopped renewing my unlimited subscription until this issue is resolved.

Hope this could help gain some traction from Amazon’s side.

Hi,

I’ve just heard that Amazon Cloud Drive blocked the widely adopted 3rd party tool rclone [1]. And currently I can no longer backup my data.

I would like you to know that I subscribed to Amazon Cloud Drive UNLIMITED only because I can use rlone to backup to Amazon Cloud Drive. Could you provide some update on how this issue is being resolved, and rclone’s access to the Amazon Cloud Drive service is being restored?

I’m very frustrated by your company’s decision. I have stopped renewing my subscription. And I will stop using your service if rclone is continued to be banned.

[1] Rclone has been banned from Amazon Drive

2017-06-01 update

I heard back from ACD customer service. Basically this aligns with what @ncw reported that the 3rd client invitation period has passed. I haven’t responded back. But I feel the invitation period doesn’t apply to Rclone, as it’s an existing app asking for renewal, not a new app. It’s just a matter of allowing rclone to access ACD or not. It’s not that ACD is terminating its 3rd party public API support. Looks like there’s still room to fight for further.

Your Account Amazon.com
Message From Customer Service

Thank you for contacting Amazon Drive Services.

I reviewed your message below and understand your concern regarding the problem you have been experiencing using Rclone application with Amazon Drive Services.

I researched and checked with the available resources and found that, unfortunately Rclone has been disabled today by our Amazon Drive Development Team and at this time, the Amazon Drive ended the invitation period for new third party apps and you can’t use open source code to connect to Amazon Drive another way. I’m sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.

You can use one of our Amazon Drive apps (available for PC/Mac/iOS/Android) to sync / upload / connect to Amazon Drive.

We’re constantly working to improve our Amazon Drive services by adding additional features to make it more user-friendly as part of new developments. I’ve taken this as a feedback and forwarded it our Cloud Drive development team. They will make every effort to evaluate the information you have provided and try their level best to lead it to program changes as we make future improvements to the Amazon Drive Services.

We appreciate that you took the time to bring this to our attention, as it helps us continue to improve our Amazon Drive and provide better service to our customers.

For any further feedback or assistance you can reach us 24 hours a day, seven days a week using the following link:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/contact-us/cloud-drive.html

Your patience and understanding is greatly appreciated in this regard. We look forward to your next visit.

We’d appreciate your feedback. Please use the buttons below to vote about your experience today.

2

Hi @kay,

I understand that you are frustrated, but they do not just change their mind till the encrypted secret is removed from the code.

So actually the point is, that @ncw receives no answer from Amazon yet if it is suitable to have an auth service beside rclone for the Amazon Cloud Drive users.

I also stopped my subscription, but I guess we only can wait what news come up from @ncw.

1 Like
3

I’ve cancelled my subscription as well, and left feedback telling them why.

4

Although I’m not too optimistic, I would hope that if enough of us post thoughtful comments through the ACD feedback mechanism (not just angry posts and threats to unsubscribe!), someone at Amazon might actually begin working with @ncw to resolve the authorization issues that led to the ban.

5

That’s why I simply cancelled my subscription and asked for a refund, which was promptly done.

Regards.

6

Nothing can just be simple …
Posted my feedback too. Just a drop in the ocean but it’s done !

7

It looks like I will not be able to use rclone to upload/download files to/from acd at least for a while. What a shame.

I have been using rclone to upload large files and folders to acd, as the acd client is not reliable and puts a limit on the file size. Also, rclone allows me to obtain directory listings for search purposes, as acd does not provide directory listings nor does it do search properly with double byte characters (you would think these functions to be basic for cloud drives).

I thought about ditching acd, but I can’t beat the price. For example, Google’s price for 1TB exceeds acd’s Unlimited Storage. Now that I have accumulated over 2TB on acd, I decide to keep it. With all its limitations, acd is still good for archiving purposes.

As for my large files (mainly videos), I’ll just split them to within limits before uploading.

As to directory listing, I will obtain it before uploading. I have yet to find a solution to get existing files on acd. sigh…

8

Except it’s now $120 a year for that 2TB since ACD is no longer unlimited.

1 Like
9

The price change is not applicable in france for now, yet …

10

Right, what a disappointment. Although, I should have known, anything ‘unlimited’’ couldn’t have lasted long.

11

Without a price advantage, amazon is not such a good deal anymore. As a matter of fact, at its new price it is not competitive at all, as it lacks many basic features. For one thing, it does not even provide a regular directory listing. At its new price, I will move on to other services.

In the mean time, I would express my deep appreciation for the rclone folks. They provide a professional service without asking for monetary return. Noble people indeed.

1 Like
12

In Spain neither, yet…

1 Like