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Ask HN: Gmail account security

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Re: Ask HN: Gmail account security

#401

Not, Google, but I'm having sort of the same problem with Facebook. My church has a Facebook account that we used to set up our public page years ago. We assigned editors to the page, then promptly never used that account again. Fast forward to this year, and I need to add a new editor, which only the page admin can do. I reset the password on the church's facebook account (it was lost years ago), but when I log in,…

Can you find a facebook engineer on LinkedIn and send them a InMail? Only costs you one month of linkedin plus, or whatever it is called.

Re: Ask HN: Gmail account security

#402
post #67

They also do this thing now where they block [1] smaller browsers (even ones using the latest version of chromium) under the guise of security. According to their docs they're fighting MITMs by generally disallowing any browser they can't identify (so the big few). If you're not on a whitelisted browser by Google, you can't log in (effectively, use) any of their properties. This feels very anti-competitive to me. Not…

Google sometimes blocks me from searching using Firefox, saying it’s “suspicious activity” and sending me into captcha hell that always rejects my results after several screens for no reason. It’s incredibly transparent as to what they’re doing. That Google became the most anti-consumer company out there is pretty disgraceful.

fake your browser header to a chrome variant.

Re: Ask HN: Gmail account security

#403
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can I ask which news? I'm already a happy Fastmail customer, just curious.

This [1] Neat fact, Google is yet to tell me they are making this change to my account. [1] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/01/google-tells-free-g-...

Same here but I pre-emptively moved everything to Fastmail (coincidentally) anyway, was the nudge I needed to finally drop the last of my Google services

Re: Ask HN: Gmail account security

#405
post #318
post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did this! Kind of. I bought a domain and was lucky enough to get in to a custom domain email (and more) service with a big company years ago when they had a free version. Unfortunately... it was Google (so kind of hiring the wolf to care for my sheep, as it turns out). And now they're cutting off all of us free tier folks. Which I can't fault them for, but still blame them for. Because I'm petty and entitled or wha…

Same here and it's a massive problem because nearly all of my digital presence is associated with, not just that email address, but that Google account specifically. I'll lose important things like my Google Voice number that I've had for a decade unless I pay for a business account.

No post body was provided.

Re: Ask HN: Gmail account security

#406
post #258

Reminder: Google paid for an ad campaign with this gist: A father creates a Gmail account for his daughter when she is born, and sends her important photos and mementos as she grows up. Sweet. Reality: At least one person tried this in real life, and the child's account was automatically deleted without recourse. https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/12/18/2046221/why-google-...

You can do this with a regular Gmail account. The kid just can’t log into it until they are 13 or older. Google also now offers child Google accounts for kids under 13, which are limited and tied to a parent’s account through an app called Family Link. This is how you can set up a Chromebook for a kid, for example. This limit of age 13 is not arbitrary by Google; it’s their way of complying with a U.S. federal law ca…

It’s not arbitrary within the US, it’s arbitrary everywhere else, where the US law doesn’t apply.

Re: Ask HN: Gmail account security

#407
Another fun one (not Gmail but Google property): ReCAPTCHA will validate and re-CAPTCHA you infinitely if you’re using Private Relay. They could just, like, store a cookie… they already have (assume) permission to do it. But just green checkmark > same question forever.

Re: Ask HN: Gmail account security

#408
post #67

They also do this thing now where they block [1] smaller browsers (even ones using the latest version of chromium) under the guise of security. According to their docs they're fighting MITMs by generally disallowing any browser they can't identify (so the big few). If you're not on a whitelisted browser by Google, you can't log in (effectively, use) any of their properties. This feels very anti-competitive to me. Not…

Google sometimes blocks me from searching using Firefox, saying it’s “suspicious activity” and sending me into captcha hell that always rejects my results after several screens for no reason. It’s incredibly transparent as to what they’re doing. That Google became the most anti-consumer company out there is pretty disgraceful.

> Google sometimes blocks me from searching using Firefox, saying it’s “suspicious activity” and sending me into captcha hell that always rejects my results after several screens for no reason.

That happend to me only when using tor.

Re: Ask HN: Gmail account security

#409
post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My solution is, buy your own domain. It's cheap and it will cost you only 20$ a year or something like that. I'm not saying run your own email service (I do, but I recognize that it's complex and not worth for most people), but use a public email service (like also GMail) with your own domain. That way at least if you no longer can access your account, or you get banned, or whatever, you don't loose your address (sin…

https://purelymail.com/ is cheap and great, albeit still in beta.

I looked at Purelyemail recently and it looked attractive for what it does and what it provides for a low price of $10 a year (compared to Fastmail and others, which can be quite expensive for more than one user/mailbox). But the fact that there’s just one person behind it makes me uncomfortable to consider it for any serious use. But that also probably works in favor of the low price.
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