3 ms·

Other businesses have humans on staff which will verify your identity documents. Google simply chooses not to do this, because it is expensive, and their "user

Other businesses have humans on staff which will verify your identity documents. Google simply chooses not to do this, because it is expensive, and their "users" are not their customers.

threatofrain 3y ago
Right, then you can just pay for Google's rather affordable non-free business version. Then you'll get reasonable support, well-reputed support.
- cube00 3y ago
  I get a call from Google One Support. I explain the situation. They tell me to go to g.co/recover to recover my account (I already did this on my own). Same thing happens as before - same two options are given. Then I'm told Google has a very strict security policy, and accounts cannot be changed in any way by support. So going through the recovery process is the ONLY way back into my account. So the call ends with them saying "I'm so sorry I can't help you." [1] [1]: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/when-you-get-locked-out-your-google-account-what-do-desirea-calvillo/ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/when-you-get-locked-out-your-...
px43 3y ago
They have offered this since 2017, in response to the Podesta email hack. It's free, but it's not the default, because traveling to a Google site is prohibitively expensive for the vast majority of their users. https://landing.google.com/advancedprotection https://landing.google.com/advancedprotection
- kube-system 3y ago
  Is there something there that explains how the recovery process is different? The only thing I see in the FAQ is somewhere that they link to the normal account recovery page, and say that you'd have to order another hardware token.
lxgr 3y ago
That is not without risk either: Many more people have a copy of my passport than have access to my Yubikey or recovery phone number.
- kube-system 3y ago
  Yes, remotely accepting a copy of an identity document from the other end of a wire is not a good authentication method. That's because they're not intended for remote digital authentication. Photo IDs are intended to be validated in-person, using the original document, and the photo visually compared to the person holding it.

Other businesses have humans on staff which will verify your identity documents. Google simply chooses not to do this, because it is expensive, and their "users" are not their customers.

threatofrain 3y ago

Right, then you can just pay for Google's rather affordable non-free business version. Then you'll get reasonable support, well-reputed support.

cube00 3y ago
I get a call from Google One Support. I explain the situation. They tell me to go to g.co/recover to recover my account (I already did this on my own). Same thing happens as before - same two options are given. Then I'm told Google has a very strict security policy, and accounts cannot be changed in any way by support. So going through the recovery process is the ONLY way back into my account. So the call ends with them saying "I'm so sorry I can't help you." [1] [1]: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/when-you-get-locked-out-your-google-account-what-do-desirea-calvillo/ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/when-you-get-locked-out-your-...

px43 3y ago

They have offered this since 2017, in response to the Podesta email hack. It's free, but it's not the default, because traveling to a Google site is prohibitively expensive for the vast majority of their users. https://landing.google.com/advancedprotection https://landing.google.com/advancedprotection

kube-system 3y ago
Is there something there that explains how the recovery process is different? The only thing I see in the FAQ is somewhere that they link to the normal account recovery page, and say that you'd have to order another hardware token.

lxgr 3y ago

That is not without risk either: Many more people have a copy of my passport than have access to my Yubikey or recovery phone number.

kube-system 3y ago
Yes, remotely accepting a copy of an identity document from the other end of a wire is not a good authentication method. That's because they're not intended for remote digital authentication. Photo IDs are intended to be validated in-person, using the original document, and the photo visually compared to the person holding it.