[butterknucket]

I'm starting to wonder.

 

[Xelebes]

And Google is already providing you with searches and ads on that thought.

 

[Guest]

 

[cboutilier]

I've had some experiences that made me stop and really question how much Google and Facebook really know.

 

[Lincoln]

how much of that information Google has collected would be accessible to good hacker?

 

[Adcandour]

I was just on the phone with them yesterday figuring out how to better get in your heads.

TBH, I'm pretty afraid to tell them what I actually think is going on, hence, I ain't sayin' shit in this thread.

 

[butterknucket]

This thread is half joke, half serious.

 

[colchar]

Google is royally pissing me off this week.

They have gone to a new sign-in feature for Gmail and every day since I have had to go through extra security measures (ie. typing out a word to demonstrate that I am human) just to get access to my primary email account. Hell, I jump through fewer hoops to access my bank and credit card accounts online! If I could get Gmail to work with Outlook I would do so, but I somehow suspect that this new sing-in procedure would screw that up even more.

Maybe it is time to ditch my Gmail account and starting using my outlook.com account for personal email.

 

[keto]

 

[Electraglide]

Don't know and don't care but atleast someone might know what I'm thinking about. Other than sex.

 

[amagras]

how much of that information Google has collected would be accessible to good hacker?

I wouldn't worry about the hackers

 

[boyscout]

Google is royally pissing me off this week. They have gone to a new sign-in feature for Gmail and every day since I have had to go through extra security measures (ie. typing out a word to demonstrate that I am human) just to get access to my primary email account. Hell, I jump through fewer hoops to access my bank and credit card accounts online! If I could get Gmail to work with Outlook I would do so, but I somehow suspect that this new sing-in procedure would screw that up even more. Maybe it is time to ditch my Gmail account and starting using my outlook.com account for personal email.

A guess colchar: could you make this deliberately-painful process easier by "just" giving up your mobile number to identify yourself?

Mobile numbers are the Holy Grail for the big online players; give up that cherry and you are theirs so they are increasingly aggressive about trying to collect them.

I recently set up a second Twitter account (I've had another one for four years). Barely two hours after setup Twitter disabled the account for "suspicious activity" (I'd done nothing at all but read with it for ten minutes). To restore it I had to provide my mobile number. Not even the email address and longstanding existing account they already had were acceptable assurance that I was a non-miscreant human being.

Instead I emailed and complained that their "suspicious activity" detection system was either broken or abusively intrusive, and I would never provide a mobile number in this lifetime or any other. Expected that to be the end of it, but they activated the account. I'd bet they collect a HELL of a lot of mobile numbers with that "suspicious activity" system!

 

[colchar]

A guess colchar: could you make this deliberately-painful process easier by "just" giving up your mobile number to identify yourself?

Mobile numbers are the Holy Grail for the big online players; give up that cherry and you are theirs so they are increasingly aggressive about trying to collect them.

The funny thing is that they are not asking for a cell number, they are simply asking that I re-type some random word to verify that I am human.

That being said, I do get the request for a cell number every few months. How many times do they need to be told 'no' before they understand that the person simply refuses to supply this info?

 

[mhammer]

Google is royally pissing me off this week.

They have gone to a new sign-in feature for Gmail and every day since I have had to go through extra security measures (ie. typing out a word to demonstrate that I am human) just to get access to my primary email account. Hell, I jump through fewer hoops to access my bank and credit card accounts online! If I could get Gmail to work with Outlook I would do so, but I somehow suspect that this new sing-in procedure would screw that up even more.

Maybe it is time to ditch my Gmail account and starting using my outlook.com account for personal email.

In one of his recent podcasts, Marc Maron recalled a quote from someone regarding the internet: "When you don't pay for the product, that means you're the product". Well-stated.

In other words, we need to learn to be wary of things we have gotten accustomed to getting for free. All free services eventually get monetized in some manner, like selling the information. Maybe not right away, but eventually. Not many people like to work for nothing.

I had to register a gmail account in order to be able to post demo videos on Youtube and respond to comments and questions. But for actual mail, I pay for a service that gives me a clean interface, and keeps much of the spam out.

 

[Electraglide]

The funny thing is that they are not asking for a cell number, they are simply asking that I re-type some random word to verify that I am human.

That being said, I do get the request for a cell number every few months. How many times do they need to be told 'no' before they understand that the person simply refuses to supply this info?

Maybe it's just you. I just accessed my gmail acct from this laptop, my cell and a tablet. No secret questions or anything like that. Same with the wife's acct that was set up 4 years ago when she got an android phone and hasn't been checked or used since. If I have to give a phone number I send '867-5309. I don't think I've given that out for about a year or so.

 

[Electraglide]

In one of his recent podcasts, Marc Maron recalled a quote from someone regarding the internet: "When you don't pay for the product, that means you're the product". Well-stated.

In other words, we need to learn to be wary of things we have gotten accustomed to getting for free. All free services eventually get monetized in some manner, like selling the information. Maybe not right away, but eventually. Not many people like to work for nothing.

I had to register a gmail account in order to be able to post demo videos on Youtube and respond to comments and questions. But for actual mail, I pay for a service that gives me a clean interface, and keeps much of the spam out.

I have an acct. specifically set up for registering software, for youtube and things like that. For actual mail, some one walks up to the house and puts it in the slot. The e-mail acct is one that was set up years ago and is not traceable to me. Leave no paper trail. I only access it from one laptop.

 

[colchar]

Maybe it's just you. I just accessed my gmail acct from this laptop, my cell and a tablet. No secret questions or anything like that. Same with the wife's acct that was set up 4 years ago when she got an android phone and hasn't been checked or used since. If I have to give a phone number I send '867-5309. I don't think I've given that out for about a year or so.

This only happened once they went to their new login, which they are rolling out as we speak.