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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

#401

Post by vel0city »

eks391 wrote: post #396
bigfatkitten wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They make it impossible to delete stuff if you stop paying! I was on Google Workspace for about 10 years. I moved off their service because the mandatory Gemini price hikes meant that it no longer represented value for money. I get excessive storage utilisation warnings for some shared drives I used to have but because I no longer have a paid up license, I can’t manage shared drives anymore. So I can’t delete them. G…

Google has support?? How did you find it, and what other services besides gmail does it cover?

Note they said "workspace". This has some level of support baked in, as this is the paid enterprise product.

https://knowledge.workspace.google.com/admin/support/contact...

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

#402

Post by Gigachad »

0x262d wrote: post #290
benoau wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

There’s also no indication Google wants to wind down Gmail. This change just looks like an aggressive method to stop bots and spammers.

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

#403

Post by Gigachad »

croes wrote: post #50
Aurornis wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently it’s just an SMS URI. It’s not something specific to a phone. It’s just a convenient method to enter your phone number.

To enter their phone number because you sent an SMS to them. So if there are any costs for sending this SMS it’s on you.

[dead]

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

#404

Post by gerdesj »

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…

"when Google was trying to get people in with 1-2GB."

The G in Gmail was for a gigabyte and that was what I got in the noughties for "free", when as you say my ISP offered something like 5MB on the end of a POP connection.

To be fair you can cram a lot of ASCII into 5MB. However you can email piccies to a mailbox with a 1GB limit if your modem doesn't melt first.

Obviously, this was during the "don't be evil" days.

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

#405

Post by anjel »

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…

Try signing up for a Google Gemini Paid account with a third party email... Better still, try signing up for a Gemini Paid account with a registered android phone that isn't triangulated to a desktop. If they can't own you, they don't want you at all.

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

#406

Post by raz32dust »

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.…

Google isn't doing this out of kindness. Sure charging for mail would give some bad press but Google can handle it in many different ways and they have in the past. They provide the service because it's valuable to the business. They know that the void will be filled by another service. And that's bad for Google.

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

#407

Post by lucb1e »

> requires scanning a QR code

That's like saying you need to "scan a QR code" to open a train door, not mentioning that the real requirement is linking your phone to your payment data so they can bill you. It's not the ability to turn a data matrix into bytes that Google is verifying here...

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

#408

Post by p-e-w »

otterley wrote: post #399
p-e-w wrote: post #391

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d say that if Google suddenly stopped providing Gmail for free, destroying the primary means of communication for billions of people, governments would be justified in immediately nationalizing Google with no compensation. Corporations aren’t magical entities that somehow exist outside of social obligations and can do whatever they want as long as their own terms of service permit it.

> Corporations aren’t magical entities that somehow exist outside of social obligations and can do whatever they want as long as their own terms of service permit it. Where's your support for this statement in the law?

When push comes to shove, the law stops mattering, every time. That’s true for individual rights and it’s true for corporate entities too. The era where things like that don’t happen is a very small slice of human history that is currently coming to an end in real time all around the world. Not long ago, a government simply taking over a company was something that occurred quite regularly.

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

#409

Post by lucb1e »

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.…

You can't legitimately believe Google is a charity and maintains 'huge chunks of the internet' with nothing to show for it. Is it for free if they get non-monetary benefits? Like, my employer doesn't give me "free" money either; they get something out of the arrangement

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

#410

Post by vkou »

idle_zealot wrote: post #280
motbus3 wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah! I can't believe people know basics about cartels, trusts and dumping.

It does feel like a lot of very intelligent people here basically start at a first principles belief in property rights, and discover or dispute all of the rights and protections put in place over centuries to patch up the issues that occur when that philosophy meets reality. It reflects poorly on our education systems that these apparently weren't covered or were unconvincing when presented. Or maybe it's just a ref…

It's not a poor reflection of our education system, it's all just motivated reasoning. Smart people will move heaven and Earth to argue themselves into a belief that their self-serving position is actually borne of some global altruism.
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