I was trying to help someone set up a service the other day and they wanted an e-mail address. Since he didn’t really want to receive spam from them, he decided to provide an alternate Gmail account that he rarely uses. When he attempted to log into that Gmail account to get the validation message, he was greeted by this:
The only problem was that he did not want Google to have his telephone number! And to be honest, I don’t blame him. So, I advised him to get a new e-mail account at GMX, which is pretty much what Gmail used to be back in the days when Google wasn’t quite as evil.
The thing is, Google could claim that there has been “unusual activity” on anyone’s account, including yours or mine. And then you have the choice of either giving them a phone number, which is something you just may not want to do, or losing access to a Gmail address that (in some cases) you’ve had for years. And if you have any other Google services tied to that account (such as Google Voice), you may lose access to those as well.
This really sucks, but it’s another example of Google just not giving a damn about their users. They are apparently too big to care anymore. I figured that out about the time they insisted that only “real” names could be used on their Google+ service, despite knowing that many people are known by an online persona other than the name on their birth certificate. I was basically booted off Google+ for using “Michigan Telephone”, so now I just don’t use Google+ (in case you are wondering, I don’t use Facebook either, and I don’t understand why anyone would!).
I know that if you use the Internet at all, it’s hard to NOT use Google, but wherever possible, I recommend that you consider alternatives. Remember the old saying about not putting all your eggs in one basket!
