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Gmail registration now requires scanning a QR code and sending a text message

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Re: Gmail registration now requires scanning a QR code and sending a text message

#221

Post by benoau »

Night_Thastus wrote: post #177

People complain a lot about Gmail, but honestly I kind of understand Google's plight here. They've essentially gotten roped into maintaining a huge chunk of internet infrastructure, for free . If they ever shut it down the whole world would end up rioting because it's so widely used. But it's expensive, complicated and time-consuming to maintain - and both a source of and recipient of endless waves of spam and scams.…

Their ecosystem netted them over $130 billion profit last year, I don't feel sorry for them at all...

Re: Gmail registration now requires scanning a QR code and sending a text message

#222

Post by ntoskrnl_exe »

Night_Thastus wrote: post #177

People complain a lot about Gmail, but honestly I kind of understand Google's plight here. They've essentially gotten roped into maintaining a huge chunk of internet infrastructure, for free . If they ever shut it down the whole world would end up rioting because it's so widely used. But it's expensive, complicated and time-consuming to maintain - and both a source of and recipient of endless waves of spam and scams.…

While I get your point, I can't think of a free email service that wouldn't also be a gate to other products. Whether it's Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo mail etc. you always get an "account" as well, something that connects other services from the provider in an easily accessible place where the user actually gets monetized. The email is there just to make sure the user comes back.

Re: Gmail registration now requires scanning a QR code and sending a text message

#223

Post by nzeid »

eatsyourtacos wrote: post #210
nzeid wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They've essentially gotten roped into maintaining a huge chunk of internet infrastructure, for free. If they ever shut it down the whole world would end up rioting because it's so widely used. Not even remotely true. They regularly shut down products and services with impunity. If Gmail cost more than the data they directly or indirectly mine and sell from their users, Gmail wouldn't exist either.

Yes it is remotely true. Name one thing they have shut off that a large number of people actually used and it was important. We all joke about Google dropping things and yes they have, but saying they can just drop Gmail is.. well, insane.

This fixation on "importance" is laughable. It is "insane" to drop Gmail because it makes them a shitload of money. That is how corporations work.

Re: Gmail registration now requires scanning a QR code and sending a text message

#224

Post by grayhatter »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #144
AstroBen wrote: post #106

Register your own domain and use that for your email, and you'll no longer be held hostage by Google. Takes almost no effort and will cost you a few dollars a month.

But what do you actually use as the email host? If you just set up your own mail server, you're almost certainly going to have everything you send go straight to spam. You still need to register with someone like google, or Proton, etc.

> you're almost certainly going to have everything you send go straight to spam.

I run my own email server on DO, nothing I send goes to spam. (I normally follow up on nearly all emails in case you're assuming some flavors of sample bias.)

Re: Gmail registration now requires scanning a QR code and sending a text message

#226

Post by kstrauser »

Oh, excellent! Having been on the end of someone flooding a service with tens of thousands of autogenerated Gmail accounts.

And if you don’t want to share your phone number with Google, which I totally respect, there are a zillion other email providers. Contrary to popular perception, Gmail != email.

Re: Gmail registration now requires scanning a QR code and sending a text message

#227

Post by benoau »

dewey wrote: post #5
dvh wrote: post #4

Any Gmail person can tell me why Gmail is tolerating Gmail phishing emails that use Google's own services (e.g. https://storage.googleapis.com/savelinge/ ... ? More info here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46665414

The same reason spam filtering is hard. It's not possible to catch every misuse of the service without too many false positives.

It's probably possible to catch a lot more of them, but why look too hard when you can hide behind section 230 immunity and pocket ginormous profits instead of spending on this lol...

Re: Gmail registration now requires scanning a QR code and sending a text message

#228

Post by phyzome »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #144
AstroBen wrote: post #106

Register your own domain and use that for your email, and you'll no longer be held hostage by Google. Takes almost no effort and will cost you a few dollars a month.

But what do you actually use as the email host? If you just set up your own mail server, you're almost certainly going to have everything you send go straight to spam. You still need to register with someone like google, or Proton, etc.

There are tons of hosts! Personally, I love Fastmail.

Re: Gmail registration now requires scanning a QR code and sending a text message

#229

Post by traderj0e »

nzeid wrote: post #223
eatsyourtacos wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes it is remotely true. Name one thing they have shut off that a large number of people actually used and it was important. We all joke about Google dropping things and yes they have, but saying they can just drop Gmail is.. well, insane.

This fixation on "importance" is laughable. It is "insane" to drop Gmail because it makes them a shitload of money. That is how corporations work.

The reason people mention importance is because corps like Google don't just care about per-product profitability, they assess how one product affects the rest of their business.

Re: Gmail registration now requires scanning a QR code and sending a text message

#230

Post by kstrauser »

tomjen3 wrote: post #202
pavel_lishin wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But what do you actually use as the email host? If you just set up your own mail server, you're almost certainly going to have everything you send go straight to spam. You still need to register with someone like google, or Proton, etc.

I have done as OP suggested and the main benefit is that I can move my email elsewhere. For now my email is with Apple, since they offers email hosting as part of the icloud+ (or whatever its called). If they decide to die/enshittify, then I can move to another host without having to change any contacts. One the other hand, since I did use my bare gmail for some years, I am still stuck with it, in case I have some se…

I switched from self-hosting to Apple’s servers a year or so ago and it’s been splendid. No issues sending to other servers, decent spam filtering, and no nickel-and-dining for having more than one domain, or more than one user, or adding email aliases. If you’re already paying for iCloud+, there’s no extra charge for it.

I don’t wanna sound like a salesman. It’s just that it’s been a surprising good experience for my family, especially for the price tag of $0. And if it ever does start to suck, I can point our domains at a different server.

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