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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

#281

Post by idle_zealot »

omcnoe wrote: post #264
duskwuff wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shutting down GMail would practically amount to shutting down email. It's by far the largest email provider in the US (and probably in the world but I don't have that data). There's no other provider who could take up the slack; if it were to abruptly shut down, a lot of users would simply lose access to email altogether.

I’d honestly expect to see regulatory intervention if they tried this.

In a better time I would expect the government to step in a acquire this fundamental service and fund it with tax money. Right now? The only intervention I would expect is a massive subsidy to pay Google to keep providing it, while also letting them continue to spy on everyone's mail (which is a crime, but not if the mail is on a computer, I guess).

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

#282

Post by petu »

dakolli wrote: post #260
xp84 wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you clarify this statement please?

https://www.cloudflare.com/developer-platform/products/email...

But it's only for receiving and you still need external mail server/address?

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

#283

Post by traderj0e »

arjie wrote: post #73
Almondsetat wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"A tester in A/B testing situation swears that B tester is not telling the truth"

It certainly disproves a headline saying “Gmail now requires scanning a QR code”.

This is why I always ignore these headlines until I see the change firsthand. In this case it wasn't even an article, only a brief forum comment, for a topic as complex as spam protection. Might not be an A/B test, could just be someone with a low-trust profile (eg Arch Linux ipv6 in Singapore with multiple Gmails).

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

#284

Post by Bender »

Pay08 wrote: post #276
sebmellen wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this really true? Where are these lists? I’ve never heard of this so I’m quite intrigued.

It's an accusation that has been going around for a while, but I've never seen it substantiated.

It's a negotiated price signed under NDA, is why most people have not seen details. If you are friends with your CFO and you email millions of gmail users directly likely because you are B2B ask them for the line item. If using a email campaign provider they will not disclose how much they negotiated to pay. Most B2B companies end up going with email marketing and campaign providers as it is far more cost effective than doing it in house even if you have highly experience email postmasters which my team had it just was not our core business model and I could not justify the FTE's.

As just one example, sending high volume emails from Amazon requires using Amazon SES [1]. Some people here are familiar with sending from SES vs. trying to send high volumes directly from EC2 instances.

[1] - https://aws.amazon.com/ses/pricing/

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

#285

Post by ninalanyon »

doctor_radium wrote: post #274

Gmail turned me off way back when it became obvious that they scanned your email to present relevant advertising. I've paid for email nearly forever (Earthlink, not the most high tech provider but good enough) and get nearly zero spam. Their price went up again recently, but apparently if you mention Fastmail they'll match the cost. I was listening to the local TV news a few weeks ago and the reporter talked about an…

I use GMail and Hotmail/Outlook but via Thunderbird or the Android app, I almost never use the Webmail interface.

What happens if Google pulls the plug on your account and you have no offline archive?

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

#286

Post by pmontra »

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.…

> They've essentially gotten roped into maintaining a huge chunk of internet infrastructure, for free.

No way they are doing it for free.

Basically they tied Gmail 1:1 to Android accounts. I have a Gmail mailbox for a few reasons: 1) self-squatting my usual handle, because they are a large email provider 2) it's my Android account and it's where I get documents shared on Drive 3) maybe it's the way I login to Google cloud but I don't remember. I used to have a customer with servers in there but it's long gone.

Anyway, gmail is their way to manage a part of the Android infrastructure and it seems they like running Android.

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

#287

Post by axegon_ »

redserk wrote: post #215
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.…

> They've essentially gotten roped into maintaining a huge chunk of internet infrastructure, for free. I’ll stop you here. Google offered it for free and, at the time, offered such an high amount of mail storage for free it sounded insane. At the time, my ISP gave me a 25MB or 50MB inbox and that was considered pretty decent, when Google was trying to get people in with 1-2GB. They absolutely have a right to take ant…

Not only that. I was probably not even a teenager or barely a teenager when registering a gmail was not as simple as clicking "sign up". You needed someone to refer you and upon registration you got 25 referrals in return. Needless to say, entirely ditched gmail forever ago and use it as a spam mail. They can have all the fun they want training slop on that.

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

#288

Post by ymolodtsov »

hamilyon2 wrote: post #217

The latest moves from google are the damning smoking gun evidence that anti monopoly court ever needs. "Do this or else". Recaptcha, gmail, google suite, android, chrome, colab and even google play must be viable businesses on their own, separate from google ads machine. Gmail must start competing for users with other email providers. And, yes, recaptcha must pay its infrastructure cost in full only from recaptcha re…

Google is a such a monopoly in email you can just go online a get any other free or paid email service.

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

#289

Post by toasty228 »

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.…

> They've essentially gotten roped into maintaining a huge chunk of internet infrastructure, for free.

yeah ok, google maps is free, youtube also...

And you know why? Because every single one of their product is either a data harvesting tool or an ad delivery mechanism, sometimes both. Let's not pretend they do it for free, it's their entire business model lmao

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

#290

Post by 0x262d »

benoau wrote: post #221
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...

right, that comment reads as if they're victims for intentionally putting themselves in the position of holding and reading the maximum amount of information about everyone they can. bizarre
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