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That's how I lost my GMail account - they demanded a telephone number so I relented and gave them mine, but they refuse to accept it. They won't take my work nu

That's how I lost my GMail account - they demanded a telephone number so I relented and gave them mine, but they refuse to accept it. They won't take my work number either.

saul_goodman 5y ago
Phone numbers have become the new SSN tied to your physical identity. In most cases you have provide extremely detailed personal info to get a working phone number. There are probably still some ways crafty folks can get a working phone number without it being tied to your physical identity, but you must go way out of your way to do so. Privacy and freedom of speech are dead, long live the constitution.
- wyldfire 5y ago
  It's frustrating for sure but the reason that they want a phone number is because it's an excellent key to join lots of independent records about you. The companies who ask for your phone number don't care if the phone company knows where you live. They don't even need to ask the phone company, all they have to do is join up with a vendor who you did disclose your address to. You can at least do yourself a mild favor and don't tell your phone number to all those brick n mortar companies who ask for it. "we'll never call you" -- of course they don't, they just want your individual identity to track you.
  - dolmen 5y ago
    It's at least an excellent key that they can provide to country authorities if they request one. That's also an excellent way to ensure the user juridiction based on the IP address and phone number country code for 99% of users.
- at-fates-hands 5y ago
  I've tried several privacy apps where you can set up phone numbers not attached to your identity and google refused to let me use any of them.
- pmoriarty 5y ago
  The saddest thing is that many HN readers (and the tech community in general) have been instrumental in privacy's demise. Despite paying lip service to privacy, many people here still work on privacy-eroding companies and services. How many people here work Facebook, Google, Microsoft, or LinkedIn, Palantir, etc... (not to mention less well-known names that still erode privacy).. probably a lot. Many founders (another group heavily represented on HN) are just after their pot of gold at the end of the IPO, and will gleefully walk over as many users' backs as it takes. In some ways worse, though, are the people who are intimately familiar with technology, and who are enabling the people at the top. These people all have a choice of who to work for and what to do. No one's holding a gun to their head making them work on tracking and spyware and user-disempowerment, and yet they do.
  - john2010 5y ago
    you are absolutely right. Even a google employee uses lineageos to avoid tracking but I am sure they deliver the code to millions of innocent... https://libredd.it/r/LineageOS/comments/nnccvr/google_location_tracking_cannot_switch_off/ https://libredd.it/r/LineageOS/comments/nnccvr/google_locati... https://www.azmirror.com/2021/05/24/newly-unredacted-documents-show-google-shared-location-with-other-apps-and-more/ https://www.azmirror.com/2021/05/24/newly-unredacted-documen...
r00fus 5y ago
What I did: create a Google voice number on my google account, then used that GV# as my Gmail account. It's an ouroboros of Google.
- maskedinvader 5y ago
  Thats a bad idea I think, if you get locked out of your gmail account, you might not be able to get a reset code on your GV number either.
  - r00fus 5y ago
    Been locked out several times and I could always get by with my backup email and/or providing account details. They never sent anything to my phone.

That's how I lost my GMail account - they demanded a telephone number so I relented and gave them mine, but they refuse to accept it. They won't take my work number either.

saul_goodman 5y ago

Phone numbers have become the new SSN tied to your physical identity. In most cases you have provide extremely detailed personal info to get a working phone number. There are probably still some ways crafty folks can get a working phone number without it being tied to your physical identity, but you must go way out of your way to do so. Privacy and freedom of speech are dead, long live the constitution.

wyldfire 5y ago
It's frustrating for sure but the reason that they want a phone number is because it's an excellent key to join lots of independent records about you. The companies who ask for your phone number don't care if the phone company knows where you live. They don't even need to ask the phone company, all they have to do is join up with a vendor who you did disclose your address to. You can at least do yourself a mild favor and don't tell your phone number to all those brick n mortar companies who ask for it. "we'll never call you" -- of course they don't, they just want your individual identity to track you.
- dolmen 5y ago
  It's at least an excellent key that they can provide to country authorities if they request one. That's also an excellent way to ensure the user juridiction based on the IP address and phone number country code for 99% of users.
at-fates-hands 5y ago
I've tried several privacy apps where you can set up phone numbers not attached to your identity and google refused to let me use any of them.
pmoriarty 5y ago
The saddest thing is that many HN readers (and the tech community in general) have been instrumental in privacy's demise. Despite paying lip service to privacy, many people here still work on privacy-eroding companies and services. How many people here work Facebook, Google, Microsoft, or LinkedIn, Palantir, etc... (not to mention less well-known names that still erode privacy).. probably a lot. Many founders (another group heavily represented on HN) are just after their pot of gold at the end of the IPO, and will gleefully walk over as many users' backs as it takes. In some ways worse, though, are the people who are intimately familiar with technology, and who are enabling the people at the top. These people all have a choice of who to work for and what to do. No one's holding a gun to their head making them work on tracking and spyware and user-disempowerment, and yet they do.
- john2010 5y ago
  you are absolutely right. Even a google employee uses lineageos to avoid tracking but I am sure they deliver the code to millions of innocent... https://libredd.it/r/LineageOS/comments/nnccvr/google_location_tracking_cannot_switch_off/ https://libredd.it/r/LineageOS/comments/nnccvr/google_locati... https://www.azmirror.com/2021/05/24/newly-unredacted-documents-show-google-shared-location-with-other-apps-and-more/ https://www.azmirror.com/2021/05/24/newly-unredacted-documen...

r00fus 5y ago

What I did: create a Google voice number on my google account, then used that GV# as my Gmail account. It's an ouroboros of Google.

maskedinvader 5y ago
Thats a bad idea I think, if you get locked out of your gmail account, you might not be able to get a reset code on your GV number either.
- r00fus 5y ago
  Been locked out several times and I could always get by with my backup email and/or providing account details. They never sent anything to my phone.