Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

discuss.privacyguides.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

231–240 of 549 posts

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

#231

Post by benoau »

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…

I like how they argued AI was a massive threat to their search empire and subsequently advertising empire ... and then a few weeks after the judge issued their astonishingly light measures to address Google's monopoly abuse, they partnered with Apple and achieved ~100% of default AI agents on smartphones being powered by Google!

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

#232

Post by Griffinsauce »

dotancohen wrote: post #171
Griffinsauce wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the Netherlands you put a sticker on your mail box with either of these: - NO ads, NO magazines/papers - NO ads, YES magazines/papers Some municipalities even make it opt-in so you'd need YES/YES to get mail without a name and address on it. (ie. not direct mail) There are also laws to enable opting out of direct mail (with name and address). In effect, junk mail is just gone once you slap a sticker on your mailbo…

What jurisdiction is responsible for regulating my, Israeli, email "sticker compliance" when using Gmail, American, and the sender is in Romania?

No idea, I didn't say anything about email.

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

#233

Post by eth0up »

A couple years after a hurricane left me without power for a week two, I fired up a generator, configured my phone as an AP, and went to do some important things in my Gmail account.

We need to prove it's really you, they posited. Simple enough I thought. I'll just use the same password I've used since 2001.

Oh, I must authenticate with a text, you say? Certainly not a configuration I've made myself, but they're holding the cards on this one, so be it.

I enter the confirmation code.

We still need to prove it's really you, again.

Shucks. I try again. And again. And again.

Sorry, but you'll now have to fuck off. Why? Because we've locked your account for complying with our security theater.

Fuck. I'm in a disaster zone. I need to get things done!

Google cares.

But thankfully, so did the FCC, which I registered a complaint with, arguing from the perspective of interference with emergency communications.

The FCC actually sent the rascals a letter. The leviathan complied and unlocked my account, and suddenly my password was secure again.

Thank you FCC. Although I doubt I'd get the same results with current adm...

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

#234

Post by sylos »

warkdarrior wrote: post #125
oldherl wrote: post #93

Wechat (Weixin; 微信) from Tencent has been doing this for years. Now Google is becoming the new Tencent and the US is becoming the new China

Do we get cheap EVs and high-speed rail now?

Tech first north korea

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

#235

Post by carlosjobim »

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.

So? Your email won't be held hostage.

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

#236

Post by dirkc »

I recently had to do google takeout on an old google apps account. The account didn't have 2 factor auth and while enabling it I got stuck in a loop scanning the QR and getting a code via text message. I can't remember how I eventually broke out of the loop?

I wonder if there is a single engineer at Google who actually understands the whole registration/verification flow and all the edge cases?

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

#237

Post by [deleted] »

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.…

[deleted]

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

#238

Post by eowln »

thrownaway561 wrote: post #27
8cvor6j844qw_d6 wrote: post #3

Recently helped a small business set up a Google Workspace account and we hit a wall during registration. Told the owners that if Google is already being difficult during signup, imagine being locked out later with client work on the line. Pulled up a few horror stories about Google lockouts to drive the point home. They ended up with another workspace solution.

Everyone hates on Microsoft, but their platform is 50x better than Google. Personally nowadays I would be looking at Proton if I was going to setup a workspace for my company.

Outlook is better than Gmail? This is a hotter-than-the-Sun take.

Have you actually tried both?

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

#240

Post by b00ty4breakfast »

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.…

This is their entire MO though; they offer a free product to build a customer base then they figure out how to get to know them biblically in an attempt to extract a profit and it doesn't matter how underhanded or unsavory it is.

Maybe at some point in the mists of time, someone just wanted to offer people a good email service but at this point it's a pattern of behavior across every Google consumer product so I can't give them the benefit of the doubt.

Post reply on HN