201–205 of 205 posts
Google's phone number policy is ridiculous.
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They closed that loophole in Europe after the terrorist attacks of recent years. You can't buy pre-paid SIM cards without giving an ID anymore.
In Portugal you can buy and use a prepaid sim card without showing your ID or giving away any personal information. On the other hand buying credit is done via the bank, so you only have a few euros to spend before losing anonymity.
1- Use the new "anonymous" sim card with a phone you already own and used with other sim card (IMEI matching).
2- Use a new phone with the new sim card but let it connect through your home WiFi network (IP tracking).
3- Use a new sim card and a new phone, but carry the new phone around with your main phone so that they find your second phone and number just by looking in the carrier(s) database(s) if there are any matches to the tower areas the first phone connects to.
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.
You should, because anyone that can compromise your phone will be able to get into your email. From there it's a small step to reset passwords (SMS 2FA won't help here, as they also have your phone) to all online services you signed up for with that email.
Taking a step back, and responding to the other comment in response to mine as well, I was just speculating. I don't work in abuse, and I'm inclined to trust the Google abuse engineers over myself or random HN commentators to keep my Google account safe.
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Sonos just did the same. They want you to create an account (and therefore give them an email) and otherwise are effectively bricking the device in the latest update. Was time to get rid of this pos.
Doesn't Apple do that too? One of the reasons I use Linux on my MacBook.
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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 used to give my real birthday. Then I kept reading about how knowing that plus your address (usually easy to find on the internet - whitepages.com, etc.) got someone a long ways toward imitating you. So I started making up birthdays but would have problems because I didn't remember them. So now I just use the epoch, which I think somebody here suggested.