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Ask HN: If I get locked out of everything, please try to help me

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Re: Ask HN: If I get locked out of everything, please try to help me

#151

Post by refurb »

doubled112 wrote: post #140
phpisthebest wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US if you are under 135 percent of the Federal Poverty Level you qualify for a free Mobile Phone with internet service. I am surprised Canada does not have a program like that

Wild guess: Bell, Rogers, and Telus probably wouldn't allow it because they couldn't milk Canadians for as much then

Why? In the US program the government pays for them. What kind of business would turn that down?

Looks like the CRTC mandates cheap plans the mobile companies offer free phone and plans too.

https://www.telus.com/en/about/news-and-events/media-release...

Re: Ask HN: If I get locked out of everything, please try to help me

#152

Post by leros »

For anyone else worried about this, print off your backup codes and put them in multiple places. A friend's house, a fire safe, a safety deposit box, etc.

I nearly had the same issue. My phone died and I couldn't get my new phone on Google Fi without receiving a text message but I couldn't get text messages until I was on Google Fi. My backup codes saved me.

Re: Ask HN: If I get locked out of everything, please try to help me

#153

Post by jsnell »

newscracker wrote: post #148
EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK wrote: post #138

I recently lost my Android phone, and in order to use Find my Phone service, I needed to login into my google account. But I couldn't log in from my notebook, because it required me to approve the login using ... my lost phone! Is this what Google programmers are paid $250k salaries for?

Sounds exactly like a deep bureaucracy at work! How do they even sit and design such systems and who signs off on such designs? It’s as if the company that prides itself for tech has mostly incompetent people with no real world experience or real world information gathering skills.

The explanation is that the story has been made up. You don't need to pass a second factor for "Find my Device". You can confirm that by visiting https://www.google.com/android/find in an incognito window.

Re: Ask HN: If I get locked out of everything, please try to help me

#154

Post by Eleison23 »

modeless wrote: post #144
fregante wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Please do not treat them this way. They do not grant access to your account. Can you expand on that? Once I have such code, what’s stopping me from “stealing” the account?

You need the password too. That's what makes it two factor.

They are, however, secret codes, and should be regarded as confidential. Just because you can divulge them without direct harm does not mean you should publish them on billboards and Facebook for safekeeping.

Re: Ask HN: If I get locked out of everything, please try to help me

#155

Post by ta988 »

I wish google would have a store you could bring an ID to get your official account unlocked (I have no idea if Apple offers that). A lot of people are getting locked out of their lifes. So many administrations you can only connect to if you have an email or a phone number associated. There is really a need for users to recover by another mean. And sure things are written when you setup your account and the cynicals here will say "caveat emptor", but when you don't know how those things work the amount of information is overwhelming. And often you end up having someone else do the setup for you. Or whatever other reason people designing those systems don't think about.

Re: Ask HN: If I get locked out of everything, please try to help me

#157

Post by soheil »

TheBrokenRail wrote: post #150

This is the issue with companies forcing 2FA on people. I don't see why it's so controversial that people should be able to make their own security decisions on their own accounts. Yes, I know 2FA is more secure, but sometimes, I just don't care that much.

This is a cancer that is spreading through tech. I believe SOC2 compliance requires 2FA and the people who set those standards are probably closer to politicians than to software engineers. We don't need stupid banners asking if it's ok to give the site our cookies and we don't need mind numbingly stupid security measures to protect us from ourselves.

The paternalism is getting more real on the web everyday.

Re: Ask HN: If I get locked out of everything, please try to help me

#159

Post by DoreenMichele »

gexla wrote: post #139
userbinator wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

but big tech discriminates against anything that's not a personal computing device. To be precise, anything that's not a "personal" computing device running the latest spyware-filled locked-down software and a browser that can be anything as long as it's the three that Google implicitly "approve". government, banking, etc.. Banking is private-sector, but I believe the government should always be accessible even if yo…

The trouble with the idea of banks being accessible, is that you also need to deal with KYC checks. Not all financial things require them, but it's creeping. I wonder how many homeless people have no ID.

Losing ID is really common on the street.

Historically, you were known by people around you and you could be "verified by relative" in the case of a house fire destroying all your documents or something, but your life mostly worked in your home town and traveling or moving elsewhere was hard. Trying to cash a check anywhere but your home town was hard, etc.

I'm a former military wife and this was a big enough issue for the American military that military facilities would cash your check at the BX/PX. Local banks and such often wanted nothing to do with military members.

And now we have this highly digital, highly mobile society and if you are rich enough and such and keep all your ducks in a row all the time, you have tremendous freedom to roam the world, pay with plastic, etc. But for a lot of people, it's increasingly problematic that we default to state ID and digital formats and so forth.

These systems should enhance older methods of making life work, not crowd them out and make life a living hell for anyone who can't keep up with it. And we should be optimizing for helping ordinary people make their lives work, not optimizing for trying to squelch bad actors and too bad, so sad if innocent bystanders get run over in the process.

I don't know how to make my life work. It seems impossible at this point and it really shouldn't be. We have the means to make life for me actually work and no matter how much I do, it's never enough.

Re: Ask HN: If I get locked out of everything, please try to help me

#160

Post by Eleison23 »

havo wrote: post #111
discardedrefuse wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The trick isn't to disable 2FA. It's to add a bunch of 2FA methods that don't rely on your cell phone: authenticator app, yubi keys, backup codes.

This is terrible advice. Please don't ever rely on authenticator apps. Try changing your phone, resetting your phone or losing your phone and watch yourself get locked out of your accounts with absolutely no recourse.

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