It’s been some years that I am not able to log in to my Google account, because I stopped using it for a very long time any Google product, and now even providing my password, they say they can not know if it is me or now…
They send me to this support page which seems like I have lost my account with all the data and stuff I had from when I was younger…
I don’t think this is normal or ethic to do (I know Google has been never ethic), but this makes me so angry because I never wanted to lose all that data…
Do they basically know every people networks? And if you don’t let them know… you lose access to Google? … 😠
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PSA: please remember that when Google is talking about security - they mean financial security of their stockholders.
Folks, get regular Google Takeouts (you can schedule them) and back them up using something like Vorta + borgbase.com
That’s very interesting, thanks for sharing!
Yep.
I have an old Google account from like 2012 that was a spam trap account I made back when you could easily sign up anonymously for gmail over Tor. It will not let me log into it anymore unless I connect a phone number to it. It hems and haws about how this is “for your protection” but really it’s pretty simple that your activity has no value to Google unless they can tie it to your identity and connect it to other activity and then bundle that and sell it to advertisers. (And fuck you Google, I’m not protecting that account from anyone except you… hackers are WELCOME to know I types a throwaway email into some online medical insurance shit…)
In fact, if you don’t want companies to collect your data, you’re more and more locked out of any app, service or platform that asks for a verified email. I’ve encountered things recently that won’t accept protonmail emails (and invite you to use OAuth to sign in with Google, Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter, fuck that noise).
I actually imagine that OAuth locked to a major provider FOR EVERYTHING is the future those guys would all like to see.
Yep. Twitch (Amazon) has started requiring people to add their phone number to be able to message each other and plan to lock out access to more and more features if you don’t.
They also stopped accepting one-time use CC numbers because, obviously, they’re a great privacy feature offered by some banks.
Yeah, I recently tried to sign up for a Playstation account and they wouldn’t let me use Proton. Thankfully I could use simplelogin but really shouldnt’ve needed to.
I’m new to Simple Login, though I’ve used throwaway addresses like mytrashmail (with no link to my real email of course) for a while. What I wonder is, if Sony are fussy about Proton, why do simplelogin domains not trip them up? That would seem even dodgier if you thought only services like Google’s were trustworthy.
Same problem. No other ways to verify, just my FULLY CORRECT PASSWORD, so Google has decided I’ll never get to access my old account again.
I posted about it on the Google forum and was told by a self important community person that it is my fault for not logging back into that account to set up backups.
Happy to switch off Gmail now, but it won’t get my old emails with bygone friends and family back.
My fault for expecting my password to get me into my account. Fuck Google man.
Gotta love that punishment for keeping your private information, well private.
Yeah, I didn’t know but seems this happened to many people… it’s a shame I didn’t know about this… not going to use Google for anything right now… I lost all my purchases too…
I still have about 3-4 old google accounts I can’t log into anymore since 2015 or so. They started asking questions like “when did you create your account”, “what was your first password” and shit like that. Luckily I had that information, even with that they wouldn’t let me in for some reason. Luckily the accounts weren’t private and just full of spam, so they were of no value.
Leave google when you can.
Yeah I lost about 10 accounts this way. Basically if you never linked a phone number, they ban you.
I have never linked a number nor ever been banned
Passwords are no longer passwords?
I’ve had Google temporarily lock my account even though:
- I knew my username and password.
- I knew the answer to my secret questions.
- I had the 2FA code from the authenticator app.
- I had access to my email and could confirm it’s me using links they sent in mails.
- They had my phone number and could send a text with a confirmation code.
- They could pop up a confirmation notification right on the phone.
- They could probably have asked me to fart in B flat and they’d detect it, they’re so far up my ass.
None of that matters. Their stupid system will automatically decide to lock you out for whatever reason and that’s it.
I’m glad I reduced the use of that email address down to nothing and that I moved out my calendar and events and I’m no longer using Google Pay.
I deleted and took out all my Google data back around many years ago. Never looked back. OP and dozens of testimonies here and on internet in general continue to reinforce my conclusion that I pulled out at the correct time.
Google knows just about every WiFi device and internet connected machine by IP address. Few years ago they announced that they track every possible WiFi SSID and you have to append
_nomapas suffix to SSID to opt out of this mass surveillance. This is also why they started back with Android 6.0 Marshmallow binding together WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS permissions, in the name of making it convenient for us with more “precise” GPS location detection. (GPS perms on Android have precise and coarse options with no WiFi/BT utilisation to assist GPS.)Oh right, I forgot about the
_nomap… but I don’t want to name my SSID like that… it’s pretty ugly name. Or maybe I can make it shorter with the nameplease_nomap, that would look a nice name. hahahaSSIDs are not like Reddit usernames since some people know they are yours, otherwise a lot of creativity could be shown.
BTW, I was wrong. It is
_nomap_optout, so even uglier. Source: my own SSID is named like that since google let us know that.SSIDs are not like Reddit usernames
I never used Reddit… xD
And I always called my Wi-Fi networks as the same from years ago, this way my family always can get in without asking me the password. Now the permanent name will be something to make it cool with that ugly suffix… 🤮
EDIT:
_nomapis Google and_optoutfor Microsoft? WTF → https://superuser.com/questions/1005235/wi-fi-opt-out-microsoft-googleYeah… WTF indeed. Its not talked about a whole lot, and only the most active privacy folks (like me, shameless) took steps like that early.
Is is too late to add _nomap _output to my SSID these days?
Probably, if you have lent out your WiFi graciously to any Apple/Google device. But you could deny mapping now, better late than never.
Wow I didn’t knew that. What about hided ssid? Can google still know about that? Do I need to put ssid nomap optout? Thanks
Undiscoverable SSID should not be scannable by Google. Format is how I put in monospace, it being appended to your SSID as suffix.
Well, in a way, they do provide accurate geolocalisation for indoor environments based on wifi networks. And it is right that having internet/bluethooth access also (more or less) reveals your location; but that doesn’t make it ethical.
Technically using multiple network devices increases accuracy of geolocation info fetching, but the side effect is clearly intentionally and unethically misused by Google and US govt criminal agencies. If this were some sort of global community entity with an open, transparent database (like OSM) fetching this data (think instead of Google’s we had an open community UnifiedNLP component for OS), it would be relatively somewhat okay, but its clear what is happening, and these things should be kept talked about IRL without fear or care.
You are thinking of https://opencellid.org and of Mozilla location services. You can contribute to them with the TowerCollector app.
UnifiedNLP is just one interface that can use many “backends” or “location services”, like the Mozilla one, an offline list, or even google itself via microG.
Its just the most relatable idea I commented, because dedicated privacy readers and Android modders usually have come across picking Mozilla’s backend over Google on their rooted phones. microg is used often as well.
Yeah, I recently lost my 14-year-old Facebook account with no option to download my data while suspended. The suspension even was a bug following me setting my account to hacked by accident and releasing it (which took 2 days) again… Half a day after I set it to ‘not hacked’ anymore, changing my email snd password, it flew in suspension, to which I was given 1 attempt at 'Disagree’ing, which I did, but it’s been slmosty 4 months now: the page still says to check back often for a result, but when I log out it tells me I haven’t 'disagree’d yet (though it will not allow me to redo it)… Lost 14 years of journalling data and uploaded creations in a second… 😕
Best of all: There’s absolutely no decent support system where you can go if their “automation” fails… They expect the automation and a basic faq suffices for whatever problem you have, and have no way to complain about it if it doesn’t…
I don’t think Google has a decent support system anymore either… They should fine big monopolistic companies if they can’t even provide a decent support system for exceptional cases, imho…
I have an FB account from 2010 that I didn’t sign into for 2-3 years. I tried and they wanted me to send them my driver’s license… uh, no. Sillier thing is I have a linked instagram account I have signed into every week or two with no problems.
In many European countries, you have legal recourse here. They’re not allowed to make arbitrary decisions like this in most places here. You could sue them to get your account re-instated.
I’m from Europe, but sueing costs money… 😕
There are consumer unions with hired lawyers. In Spain there’s Facua and OCU (but the 2d one is governmental, I think)
They expect the automation and a basic faq suffices for whatever problem you have
No they don’t, and they know it doesn’t, they just don’t give a fuck. They’re worth a bajillion dollars and anything else is just chatter to them.
Yeah right, I wish I could have some human contact to tell them “I am me”… did you find or tried to find any human support email or contact? I wonder if Google has any too…
I’ve actually recovered my account (I was reported, and suspended, for using a false name) and along with the identification they requested I submitted a picture of a hand-written letter explaining why I used this name.
my account was reinstated.
I hate this stuff. People can’t manage passwords and get hacked all the time, so they implement all of these extra checks that get in the way when I’m on travel. It’s an enormous pain.
Yeah, GitHub spammed my mailbox asking me to add 2FA but Google no… they are asking for my Wi-Fi network. 😞 And I’m not sure if I can even provide it to them now that I can’t log in again… I will keep trying it next month…
Your first mistake was Google itself
But I was just a kid… xD
Do they let you in if you use something unphishable like a Yubikey?
I suppose, I never configured 2FA… and Yubikey is amazing, I should get one of them…
Also Google: “Oh! And P.S.: can we also have your lunch money? It’s for your own security, you see. You may starve, but you’re doing it securely. You’re welcome!”
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Don’t forget that OP expected Google to hold onto their data forever, without paying them, despite not logging in “for a very long time”.
For all the hills to die on about Google, this is a pretty strange one to choose.
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They know my phone number from years ago when I used it, they could send me a verification code too… There are many ways to make this secure, but they don’t even care, I read many people having stupid issues resulting in a “locked account” and losing it all…
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Nope, I just remember getting “google code verifications”… But I’m sure they know my phone number… xD And I want to point that they have no excuses to contact me for verifications, a simple text message would work.
