8 ms·

>Am I the only person who loathes this form of 2FA? Not in the slightest. I tried to configure TOTP-only and Google effectively tells me to go fuck myself, bec

>Am I the only person who loathes this form of 2FA? Not in the slightest. I tried to configure TOTP-only and Google effectively tells me to go fuck myself, because they apparently know how to secure my account better than I do.

StavrosK 5y ago
I've found that if you move away from Gmail (and there are much better providers around), a Google account doesn't contain much. Turn off your history and someone compromising your account can do... what? Search for things you'd like? View your YouTube favorites? Meh.
- qudat 5y ago
  Agreed. I have moved off of Gmail (went to fastmail, very happy) and I also removed my other services off of my gmail account for logins. My google account has my calendar and youtube and that’s it.
  - julianlam 5y ago
    Me too! However, my fastmail app is slow on my phone (a Nokia 6.1), compared to the Gmail app which, while not buttery smooth, is still faster than Fastmail... And the Gmail app refuses to allow IMAP accounts to archive emails, so that's pointless...
- prima_cookie 5y ago
  docs, drive and photos are pretty packed for me at least
  - hunter-gatherer 5y ago
    I was in that same boat, which is why I decided to migrate off gmail and move to a paid provider. One day I just woke up an realized I had to much important shit tied to my email to not be a customer. Paid services to replace google are surprisingly affordable. And best yet, if there is ever an issue, there is also a number I can call. Totally recommend migrating away.
    - mrb 5y ago
      «there is also a number I can call» Unfortunately that's a number a hacker can call to social engineer the employee and steal your account. Same method as in SIM swapping attacks.
      - ilikepi 5y ago
        Assuming reasonable levels of competence on the part of the service, which scenario seems more likely for the average user: 1.) Some unexpected glitch occurs (could be the user's fault or could be the company's), and the user's ability to access the service is temporarily interrupted until a human is able to investigate and resolve the problem. 2.) The user is specifically targeted by a malicious actor performing SIM swap and/or social engineering attack. I'm not really a gambler, but if I'm forced to guess, I'd say #1. EDIT: clarify initial assumptions
- tomerbd 5y ago
  what do you use for photos storage ?
  - scambier 5y ago
    Not OP. While I've personally not yet fully migrated out of Google, I found Synching and Resilio Sync quite useful to transparently backup photos to my own computer. And to prevent losses, I have a Backblaze subscription. While I do have a VPS, it only has like 20GB, so I've yet to find an affordable and easy photo sharing solution.
    - mceachen 5y ago
      You can set up PhotoStructure to build smaller (4k, 1080p, whatever you want) previews on your home server, and rsync just the previews dir and DB periodically up to your VPS. A couple of my beta users do this. (I'm the author, btw). https://photostructure.com/faq/why-photostructure/ https://photostructure.com/faq/why-photostructure/
      - scambier 5y ago
        Hey thanks, I'll take a look!
  - StavrosK 5y ago
    I have a NAS that backs up to rsync.net.
  - jonathanstrange 5y ago
    I use Wasabi with Clouberry for backups and otherwise store all data on my hard disks. But if you're into "cloud" storage, Mega.nz gives you 50GB of free and very reliable storage.
  - darkwater 5y ago
    As always in this threads I hear people talking about SyncThing etc (and i have it and it's neat) but that works for Android. How do you exit the iCloud land in an easy and reliable way? There is no SyncThing for iOS.
- yosito 5y ago
  The hardest thing for me to replace so far has been Google Maps. I use a handful of OSM map apps, but none of them come close to the local business lookups of Google, which I need quite often.
  - benhurmarcel 5y ago
    Right but you don't need an account for that.
    - yosito 5y ago
      You don't need an account for that yet. I've been using Maps in "incognito mode" for 6 months, but I wouldn't be surprised if they're still using Maps to collect data about me.
- jjav 5y ago
  Better yet, always be logged out of google (and everything else really) unless you must. Then log out and erase all cookies ASAP.
- forgotpwd16 5y ago
  The issue with moving away from Gmail is that some sites don't allow you to change your email address. I can only imagine the chaos that will be when Google decides to kill Gmail.
peteretep 5y ago
> they apparently know how to secure my account better than I do This is definitely true for 99% of people though
- 1vuio0pswjnm7 5y ago
  And the company is taking full advantage of that. "Trust us." Yet no company wants more personal information from you than this one. They want everything. Even when they have so much, they are going to great lengths to get more. They are not in the security business, they are in the online ad sales business.
  - forgotpwd16 5y ago
    And you aren't even exaggerating. They now require ID verification to watch age-restricted videos on YouTube.
ljm 5y ago
Windows with a Yubikey is like this, most particularly in Edge. It'll accept your key once but you'll have trouble using it again. It'll tell you that it doesn't recognise the key. Some bullshit with Windows Hello, I'm sure, since using a hardware key in the browser triggers it.

StavrosK 5y ago

I've found that if you move away from Gmail (and there are much better providers around), a Google account doesn't contain much. Turn off your history and someone compromising your account can do... what? Search for things you'd like? View your YouTube favorites? Meh.

qudat 5y ago
Agreed. I have moved off of Gmail (went to fastmail, very happy) and I also removed my other services off of my gmail account for logins. My google account has my calendar and youtube and that’s it.
- julianlam 5y ago
  Me too! However, my fastmail app is slow on my phone (a Nokia 6.1), compared to the Gmail app which, while not buttery smooth, is still faster than Fastmail... And the Gmail app refuses to allow IMAP accounts to archive emails, so that's pointless...
prima_cookie 5y ago
docs, drive and photos are pretty packed for me at least
- hunter-gatherer 5y ago
  I was in that same boat, which is why I decided to migrate off gmail and move to a paid provider. One day I just woke up an realized I had to much important shit tied to my email to not be a customer. Paid services to replace google are surprisingly affordable. And best yet, if there is ever an issue, there is also a number I can call. Totally recommend migrating away.
  - mrb 5y ago
    «there is also a number I can call» Unfortunately that's a number a hacker can call to social engineer the employee and steal your account. Same method as in SIM swapping attacks.
    - ilikepi 5y ago
      Assuming reasonable levels of competence on the part of the service, which scenario seems more likely for the average user: 1.) Some unexpected glitch occurs (could be the user's fault or could be the company's), and the user's ability to access the service is temporarily interrupted until a human is able to investigate and resolve the problem. 2.) The user is specifically targeted by a malicious actor performing SIM swap and/or social engineering attack. I'm not really a gambler, but if I'm forced to guess, I'd say #1. EDIT: clarify initial assumptions
tomerbd 5y ago
what do you use for photos storage ?
- scambier 5y ago
  Not OP. While I've personally not yet fully migrated out of Google, I found Synching and Resilio Sync quite useful to transparently backup photos to my own computer. And to prevent losses, I have a Backblaze subscription. While I do have a VPS, it only has like 20GB, so I've yet to find an affordable and easy photo sharing solution.
  - mceachen 5y ago
    You can set up PhotoStructure to build smaller (4k, 1080p, whatever you want) previews on your home server, and rsync just the previews dir and DB periodically up to your VPS. A couple of my beta users do this. (I'm the author, btw). https://photostructure.com/faq/why-photostructure/ https://photostructure.com/faq/why-photostructure/
    - scambier 5y ago
      Hey thanks, I'll take a look!
- StavrosK 5y ago
  I have a NAS that backs up to rsync.net.
- jonathanstrange 5y ago
  I use Wasabi with Clouberry for backups and otherwise store all data on my hard disks. But if you're into "cloud" storage, Mega.nz gives you 50GB of free and very reliable storage.
- darkwater 5y ago
  As always in this threads I hear people talking about SyncThing etc (and i have it and it's neat) but that works for Android. How do you exit the iCloud land in an easy and reliable way? There is no SyncThing for iOS.
yosito 5y ago
The hardest thing for me to replace so far has been Google Maps. I use a handful of OSM map apps, but none of them come close to the local business lookups of Google, which I need quite often.
- benhurmarcel 5y ago
  Right but you don't need an account for that.
  - yosito 5y ago
    You don't need an account for that yet. I've been using Maps in "incognito mode" for 6 months, but I wouldn't be surprised if they're still using Maps to collect data about me.
jjav 5y ago
Better yet, always be logged out of google (and everything else really) unless you must. Then log out and erase all cookies ASAP.
forgotpwd16 5y ago
The issue with moving away from Gmail is that some sites don't allow you to change your email address. I can only imagine the chaos that will be when Google decides to kill Gmail.

peteretep 5y ago

> they apparently know how to secure my account better than I do This is definitely true for 99% of people though

1vuio0pswjnm7 5y ago
And the company is taking full advantage of that. "Trust us." Yet no company wants more personal information from you than this one. They want everything. Even when they have so much, they are going to great lengths to get more. They are not in the security business, they are in the online ad sales business.
- forgotpwd16 5y ago
  And you aren't even exaggerating. They now require ID verification to watch age-restricted videos on YouTube.

ljm 5y ago

Windows with a Yubikey is like this, most particularly in Edge. It'll accept your key once but you'll have trouble using it again. It'll tell you that it doesn't recognise the key. Some bullshit with Windows Hello, I'm sure, since using a hardware key in the browser triggers it.