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Tell HN: Google requiring phone number to log into Chromebook

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Re: Tell HN: Google requiring phone number to log into Chromebook

#131

Post by peterwwillis »

hirsin wrote: post #13
zbuf wrote: post #12

I have the same when logging in to my Google account provided by my employer. I don't have 2FA set up, so they have no prior knowledge of my phone number. I'd also like to understand how this is possibly useful? In my case I was travelling, so had no option but to enter the number of the nearest available random person willing to lend me a phone for the purpose, with no idea what it would be used for. It is cynical t…

What you're describing is a "cost proof" - namely that the user has something we can verify that costs some amount of money and is unique. So when the service I work on asks for a phone number verification, it's not always to determine your ID - it's to cut down on spam from users unwilling/unable to set up tens or hundreds of phone numbers, which I imagine is the majority of spammers. Adding it to existing accounts,…

This is the reason for the verification, and I'm surprised nobody mentioned it yet. When you sign up for a new account they also require a phone number. It provides a basic measure of accountability and a bot prevention mechanism.

They're doing it on Chromebooks because you're using Google's services. A Chromebook is just a Google Cloud Computer; users aren't expected to use one without using Google's services too.

Re: Tell HN: Google requiring phone number to log into Chromebook

#132

Post by st1ck »

Springtime wrote: post #129
willvarfar wrote: post #11

I have a similar problem with yandex. It's not hardware, just an email account, but I'm locked out of one I used for stuff because they are now asking me for my phone number because of "suspicious activity". I don't want to give them one.

Yup. And Yandex is one of the only free email services left that doesn't require a phone number to register yet they stuck me with a lockout on the account weeks later (still haven't bothered to re-activate the account yet). Not to mention that I created both a custom question and answer with randomly generated strings that couldn't possibly have been known by anyone else, which they confirmed as correct during the l…

https://cock.li/ doesn't require phone number (you can also choose other domain name)

Re: Tell HN: Google requiring phone number to log into Chromebook

#134

Post by dylan604 »

richrichardsson wrote: post #113
Guest9812398 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a Gmail account for a secondary email address that I used at times. One day I logged in with my email and password, and Google said I needed to further verify my identity. Well, my security question was a bogus one because I was confident with my password manager and backups it would not be needed. But, I guess I was wrong, because I didn't anticipate that knowing the password wouldn't be enough for Google. I n…

Stupid "security" questions, I've started answering them like "what's your favourite colour?" - "colour" or "what was your first pet's name" - "pet". There are a few things that make me wonder if I can trust a company. Security questions, stupid password restrictions, sending me a password in plain text via email.

I recently was forced to do this by my home ISP. I used my password manager to generate 32 character length passwords, and then stored that info in the manager. However, when I attempted to save this info, the website responded with something along the lines of, 'we're sorry, please come back and try this again at another time.' This was preventing me from paying my bill online as it would not let me access my account with this info. I did this for 3 days straight. On the 4th day, I changed my answers to very simple responses similar to yours and the entire thing worked. It's not that it was fixed, because I tried the complex values first on day 4. Their system couldn't support such a value, and failed at letting me know that.

Re: Tell HN: Google requiring phone number to log into Chromebook

#135

Post by pas »

Springtime wrote: post #129
willvarfar wrote: post #11

I have a similar problem with yandex. It's not hardware, just an email account, but I'm locked out of one I used for stuff because they are now asking me for my phone number because of "suspicious activity". I don't want to give them one.

Yup. And Yandex is one of the only free email services left that doesn't require a phone number to register yet they stuck me with a lockout on the account weeks later (still haven't bothered to re-activate the account yet). Not to mention that I created both a custom question and answer with randomly generated strings that couldn't possibly have been known by anyone else, which they confirmed as correct during the l…

ProtonMail doesn't require a phone number either for registration.

Re: Tell HN: Google requiring phone number to log into Chromebook

#136

Post by vageli »

stephen82 wrote: post #115

They have done this to me a couple of months ago with my Gmail account and got really panicked, because I had all my contacts on it. After I have managed to restore it more than 4 hours later, I permanently deleted my account and Google immediately contacted me with apologies, asking me for the reason I did such thing. They have tried to persuade me to restore my account with a couple of emails, but it was already to…

> They have tried to persuade me to restore my account with a couple of emails, but it was already too late.

Where are they sending those emails, to your Google account's backup account?

Re: Tell HN: Google requiring phone number to log into Chromebook

#138

Post by ken »

atmosx wrote: post #111

I see a lot of concern around privacy and that’s a blessing. Honest question: Let’s assume for a moment that google wants to do something evil, what kind of info will “providing a mobile number” give to google that the email, searches, possibly DNS queries, oauth2 authentication and browsing tracker will not?

Phone number is a universal ID whose transmission and content is managed by another company. It's one which we generally make public, too (that's the point). Plus, unlike email, it's difficult and/or non-free to create more, or manage several of them.

A malicious Google with my phone number could easily sell my web searches to the phone company, for example. Or publicly expose my web searches, associated with my phone number (which my friends or employers would recognize).

It's basically one less layer of indirection, which means much less plausible deniability. It's not a hard line but there's definitely a gradient they're moving down.

Re: Tell HN: Google requiring phone number to log into Chromebook

#139

Post by hrktb »

kartickv wrote: post #104

Maybe giving them your phone number gives Google another signal to catch hackers in another country trying to taking over your Google account. Or a malware server could be prevented from taking over tons of Google accounts? I don't want in abuse, so there are only guesses. I don't mind giving Google my hone number to keep my data secure, and I'm in the majority, so this is a good thing IMO.

To further lurker456’s point, phone carriers are currently one of the weakest point if you care about security.

I assume you are giving your phone number to a lot of entities already (public administration, HR, service prodivers, delivery etc.). From there a simple phone call to your carrier will be enough to reset your contact dmail, SIM and/or have a new one activated.

Re: Tell HN: Google requiring phone number to log into Chromebook

#140

Post by fencepost »

solarengineer wrote: post #64
mavhc wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you wanted that why would you ever consider a Chromebook in the first place?

I am/was considering a Chromebook because of the lower price and the opportunity to run Linux on it

If that's what you're looking for, buy an off-lease/refurb/used business class notebook that's a few years old. On the ThinkPad side, a T450 or T450s, maybe a T440s if you're going to disable the touch pad, maybe a T430s if you're willing to go back 6-7 years but then you're really going to be looking at likely battery issues and higher weight.
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