Google deleting all recently inactive accounts without phone number
18 comments
> This is a very shady dark pattern by Alphabet corporation.
Advertising company (Doubleclick [1]) wants phone numbers to better target ads. No surprise there.
[1] The company currently calling itself Google is not the same Google as yesteryear. In 2008 Google purchased Doubleclick, and what happened is that the advertising rot from Doubleclick ate Google from the inside out. What we have now calling itself Google is actually all the evil that was Doubleclick, only calling itself Google. That's why the Google motto no longer includes "Don't be evil".
Advertising company (Doubleclick [1]) wants phone numbers to better target ads. No surprise there.
[1] The company currently calling itself Google is not the same Google as yesteryear. In 2008 Google purchased Doubleclick, and what happened is that the advertising rot from Doubleclick ate Google from the inside out. What we have now calling itself Google is actually all the evil that was Doubleclick, only calling itself Google. That's why the Google motto no longer includes "Don't be evil".
Steam gave me similar problems. In the process of trying to get in for the first time in a while to delete my account, I completed a successful 2FA but still couldn't log in because I had to prove I owned the account by providing extra information.
We've fallen so far from the days when the retailer let you just have the game you bought and then they were out of the picture forever.
We've fallen so far from the days when the retailer let you just have the game you bought and then they were out of the picture forever.
There's no reason to use Google over ProtonMail or Tuta Mail if you care about user experience. Google's customer support is non-existent, while Proton and Tuta will get you a real human for any problems and are accountable.
Yes, I’ve lost access to two old accounts including my old blogger one. When I try to log in it sends email saying, “someone tried to log in with your password!” :-/
I've often read that 2FA should be through an authenticator app or a physical key, not via texting a code to a phone number. Malicious sim swapping is a thing, so purposely deleting any phone number from an account should be good practice, right?
So will they also delete inactive accounts that have no phone number, but one or more phone-less 2FA methods associated?
So will they also delete inactive accounts that have no phone number, but one or more phone-less 2FA methods associated?
They default to authing you via a sms code usually still, even when you have an authenticator paired
It's phonishness. Your life isn't real unless you have a smartphone -- at least that's the way "the empire" sees it.
What I'm reading is you just gave your login to a phisher and they don't care about anything further, hence the dead end.
if you haven't cared about using an account for a year, why do you want to use it all of a sudden now?
The next aspiring trillionaire can take note of that argument when scamming people out of their retirement funds.
Why would one not provide one’s phone number to a financial institution where you hold your retirement or other investment funds?
Don't you think that "security" non-sequitur boogeyman is a bit too forced? You took my example, cherry-picked some words, and turned it into something else entirely. And too bad it doesn't even hold up because surrendering your phone number won't prevent securities fraud, which is what I was specifically referring to in my example.
If you haven't used your $whatever in a year, why do you want to use it now? Replace $whatever with whatever you want and you'll see how absurd this question is.
I really don’t think it absurd. What’s an example where a Google account is important to you but you haven’t used it in a year?
“If you haven't used your dirty tissue in a year, why do you want to use it now?”
“If you haven't used your ham sandwich in a year, why do you want to use it now?”
“If you haven't used your receipt in a year, why do you want to use it now?”
Ah, yes. I see what you mean. Truly absurd.
“If you haven't used your ham sandwich in a year, why do you want to use it now?”
“If you haven't used your receipt in a year, why do you want to use it now?”
Ah, yes. I see what you mean. Truly absurd.
Haha, smart. But those quotes still don't justify me taking away your one year old ham sandwich.
If you leave your ham sandwich in the office fridge for a single week, anyone is justified in throwing it away.
The trouble is you think that you are in possession of a ham sandwich that Google is taking away when in reality you’ve left your ham sandwich in Google’s fridge and they are sick of storing the obviously-abandoned sandwich for you.
See also: https://xkcd.com/1150/
The trouble is you think that you are in possession of a ham sandwich that Google is taking away when in reality you’ve left your ham sandwich in Google’s fridge and they are sick of storing the obviously-abandoned sandwich for you.
See also: https://xkcd.com/1150/
Not providing your phone number is a critical step in protecting yourself against sim swap attacks and other vulnerabilities.
"Urgent: Sign in to your Google Account if you want to keep it"
But then it doesn't matter if you log in with the correct username and password and receive the PIN via your email. This is isn't enough. Unless a phone number is somehow added to the account one gets,
"You can’t recover your account at this time because Google doesn’t have enough info to be sure this account is yours."
This is despite having all information ever associated with the account. Unless that account has a phone number it will be deleted. This is a very shady dark pattern by Alphabet corporation.