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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

#451

Post by loloquwowndueo »

elmomle wrote: post #220
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.

They'd generate a huge amount of ill will by shutting it down, and that in turn would likely lead to a nontrivial share of people moving away from Google core products (like search) out of pure spite.

Wait, Google does search these days?

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

#452

Post by gpm »

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?

The existence of law itself is the only necessary support... Law is merely encoded social obligations that the government will enforce. That a single law constrains corporations in any way (and that is clearly the case) proves the statement.

In the broader context GP is clearly advocating for what the law should be, or should be changed to should certain events come to pass. Demanding support in existing law for a proposed change in law is nonsense if that's what you meant to do instead of narrowly discussing the nearly vaccuously true quote you pulled out.

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

#453

Post by d3vmax »

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 charge for google workspace and many companies use workspace and expand on the services they use provided by workspace. The trojon was gmail and gmail interface / app on android and iphone.

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

#454

Post by qsera »

donkyrf wrote: post #291
idle_zealot wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

[flagged]

>immense right-wing propaganda machine..

I see that the left-wing (what ever that means) does not have access to this machine, for some reason...

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

#455

Post by qsera »

ipaddr wrote: post #338
donkyrf wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

How can we end up blaming the right wing when the propaganda machine is bigger on the other side and even bigger on the government side It's always someone else

I think the idiocy required to agree with the some of ideas of the "american left" vastly exceeds what is required for a complete lack of self reflection.

So I am not really surprised.

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

#456

Post by icase »

duskwuff wrote: post #212
traderj0e wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The stuff they've shut down has been nowhere near as important as Gmail.

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.

oh no. what a shame that would be.

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

#457

Post by [deleted] »

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #423
idle_zealot wrote: post #364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A terribly defeatist attitude. The same could be said about, say, death during childbirth. For hundreds of thousands of years people tried methods of midwifery to ease that process and reduce deaths to little effect. People considered that to be women's lot, an immutable fact of human nature. Then we figured out how to reduce deaths during childbirth to a relatively tiny fraction of all-cause mortality, and that leve…

We have a system for improving organizations. Competition. The actual problem is that our system for preserving competition is insufficiently effective.

[deleted]

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

#458

Post by dakolli »

thebytefairy wrote: post #390
dakolli wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://developers.cloudflare.com/email-service/get-started/...

This is not really an 'email service' the average person can be expected to use..

Then don't use it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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

#459

Post by kelipso »

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?

People can actually make new laws. Happens all the time.

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

#460

Post by KennyBlanken »

elmomle wrote: post #220
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.

They'd generate a huge amount of ill will by shutting it down, and that in turn would likely lead to a nontrivial share of people moving away from Google core products (like search) out of pure spite.

To what? Google Search sucks thanks to the idiot who ran Yahoo into the ground, but everyone else sucks more. Every time I try to use non-google search the results are virtually useless.

Google has firmly been in the "we're so big we can suck at everything, but you'll still use our stuff because you have no other choice" phase that Microsoft was (is?) in.

They've dominated email so much that their spam filter makes it a very risky proposition to run your own domain; chances are very good it'll just start dropping your messages. Even if chances aren't great, can you take the risk of an important email getting zapped?

To this day I still routinely have to fish out my gmail spam folder dozens of emails from various open source mailing lists that have been around for a decade or two, some hosted on kernel.org, because the spam filter is convinced they're spam. Google is too fucking stupid or lazy to whitelist sites like kernel.org.

FFS even google groups I'm in that are technical get obviously-not-spam messages tagged as spam!

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