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Tell HN: Google requiring phone number to log into Chromebook

news.ycombinator.com

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

#51

Post by mverwijs »

mavhc wrote: post #48
reacharavindh wrote: post #30

Evil. Imagine those teens at school, that bought Chromebooks because they were more affordable, and now getting pried on like this.. :-( It is this generation that is going to lose the idea of privacy and suffer from these piece of shit corporations. It's almost like watching a movie.

If you're a school you're on GSuite for Education so can create as many accounts as you want for free, without phone numbers, and for under 13s

Parentpost is talking about a different market group. You are talking about chromebooks provided by schools to students. Parent is talking about chromebooks _bought_ by students (because they're cheap and functional).

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

#52

Post by fiblye »

I've had this happen with gmail accounts randomly. Most of the time with computers I've been using for years on the same network.

The worst occasion I've ever had was the one time I was traveling. I was getting by with only wifi and, naturally, didn't have a phone number to confirm my account with. I didn't have a number bound to my account, either, making the whole process pointless.

How did I get into my account? I asked a random guy who walked by if I could login to my email on his phone (since at that point I'd left my wifi area and couldn't login with my own device). It was essential that I check an email at that point, so I didn't have a choice. It was anti-security--I literally gave full access to my email account to some man I never met before in a different country.

Google needs to stop pretending it's some security measure. It's not. It's data harvesting, plain and simple. I just wish they'd admit it.

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

#53

Post by mavhc »

mverwijs wrote: post #51
mavhc wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're a school you're on GSuite for Education so can create as many accounts as you want for free, without phone numbers, and for under 13s

Parentpost is talking about a different market group. You are talking about chromebooks provided by schools to students. Parent is talking about chromebooks _bought_ by students (because they're cheap and functional).

Fair enough. I'd just pick up a random sim card at any supermarket, comes with a free phone number.

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

#55

Post by dazc »

It proves you are not a bot? The account recovery procedure is usually via a secondary email account or saved backup codes.

I know this because I have a friend who's prone to getting himself locked out and I have become his personal tech support guy (not willingly).

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

#56

Post by semi-extrinsic »

mavhc wrote: post #53
mverwijs wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Parentpost is talking about a different market group. You are talking about chromebooks provided by schools to students. Parent is talking about chromebooks _bought_ by students (because they're cheap and functional).

Fair enough. I'd just pick up a random sim card at any supermarket, comes with a free phone number.

FYI being able to just buy a random SIM a any supermarket is not common outsid the UK.

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

#57

Post by dazc »

reacharavindh wrote: post #30

Evil. Imagine those teens at school, that bought Chromebooks because they were more affordable, and now getting pried on like this.. :-( It is this generation that is going to lose the idea of privacy and suffer from these piece of shit corporations. It's almost like watching a movie.

I find teens rather cautious about giving out phone numbers, older generation - much less so.

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

#58

Post by JAdamMoore »

Rebelgecko wrote: post #39
newscracker wrote: post #19

I can't offer any advice that can help you quickly or is guaranteed to work. Write a longer and better composed post on some platform, with details of what you've tried, whom you tried to contact at Google, responses (or the lack thereof), etc. Share it on HN, Twitter and elsewhere to get some traction. If you can get it to someone at a senior level, that may help. Sadly, that seems to be the only way to get some com…

How do you even find someone to contact at Google? When I tried in the past, the only support was for people that had some sort of recurring SaaS contract or for AdWords

You force them to hand over their phone number.

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

#59

Post by isostatic »

dazc wrote: post #57
reacharavindh wrote: post #30

Evil. Imagine those teens at school, that bought Chromebooks because they were more affordable, and now getting pried on like this.. :-( It is this generation that is going to lose the idea of privacy and suffer from these piece of shit corporations. It's almost like watching a movie.

I find teens rather cautious about giving out phone numbers, older generation - much less so.

Anyone over the age of 40 (and many younger) will have had a landline, almost all in the phone book. Name, address, and phone all neatly collected, very few were bothered.

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

#60

Post by antt »

mverwijs wrote: post #54

I cannot reproduce this on any of my chromebooks.

I can reproduce this on my secondary and tertiary gmails. They require a phone number or security "questions" that I have no idea about.

I have effectively lost access to them because of google.

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