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My google voice number is unlikely to be stolen from me, but instead I have to use a 'real' phone number that could be compromised by handing cash to an employe

My google voice number is unlikely to be stolen from me, but instead I have to use a 'real' phone number that could be compromised by handing cash to an employee at a store. One time a company retroactively blocked VOIP numbers, which was really stupid.

Krasnol 2y ago
> My google voice number is unlikely to be stolen from me I'd say that with Google, chances are that they just stop offering the service.
- MetaWhirledPeas 2y ago
  When Google Voice was brand new I snagged me a number. (Since lost because I did not respond to a prompt to keep it alive, or something?) I wonder if they anticipated the cost of keeping those around for decades. Managing someone's personal phone number is a solemn commitment that you can't just drop willy-nilly.
  - thfuran 2y ago
    The only solemn commitment Google has is to the bottom line.
    - MetaWhirledPeas 2y ago
      Aren't they still supporting old Google Voice numbers though? I don't see how they could be making any money on that.
      - Uvix 2y ago
        Only US domestic calls are free, international calls have a per-minute charge.
- thfuran 2y ago
  That's one of their older services. I assume they really like the data they get from it.
danlugo92 2y ago
Whatsapp just retroactivelly blocked google voice numbers recently
- rwmj 2y ago
  That's nothing to do with security, just Meta wanting to know everything about you / being annoyed that another company has that data instead of them.
  - immibis 2y ago
    Security of shareholder value!
- BenjiWiebe 2y ago
  Knock on wood, mine still works. Please, any Whatsapp/Meta engineers, don't go specifically disable mine now that you read this comment.
- einsteinx2 2y ago
  How recently?
bushbaba 2y ago
Because that real phone number is tied to an imei number which can be used to track your historical and real time location from teleco data
- betaby 2y ago
  And yet it is 'impossible' to police to recover stolen iPhone.
  - dboreham 2y ago
    Unrelated. Tracking data is service-side, not secret to the phone.
  - ceejayoz 2y ago
    It’s entirely possible. They just don’t care.
kyrra 2y ago
This is why I like Google Fi. It is much harder to do account takeout over of a Google Fi number compared to most telecos. The attacker would have to take over the Google account which seemed to be harder to do.
- lokar 2y ago
  I agree, and also use Fi But, I worry about what happens if I somehow get locked out of the account…
  - edoceo 2y ago
    Just post on socials (that you can still access) about being locked out and then hope for the best?
    - lokar 2y ago
      Well, for now, I still have former co-workers there who can help, but that won’t last forever.
      - kyrra 2y ago
        For the most part, the "have a friend at Google" doesn't help anymore. They even tell us googlers to use the external process when our account gets locked.
  - jopsen 2y ago
    Verifying people after account loss/compromise is hard. So which would you prefer: (A) A low-level customer service representative can restore your access, but said representative is arguably susceptible to social engineering and other human weaknesses. (B) Your account can be protected be physically 2FA key (yubikey), but on the case of loss/compromised account processes for recovery are hard to navigate and may not yield successful recovery? In the case of (A) you have little security. In the case of (B) you can do a LOT to prevent account loss, but if bad things happen (whether your fault or not) you are locked out by default. From a privacy point of view, I'm not sure that (B) is such a bad option.

Krasnol 2y ago

> My google voice number is unlikely to be stolen from me I'd say that with Google, chances are that they just stop offering the service.

MetaWhirledPeas 2y ago
When Google Voice was brand new I snagged me a number. (Since lost because I did not respond to a prompt to keep it alive, or something?) I wonder if they anticipated the cost of keeping those around for decades. Managing someone's personal phone number is a solemn commitment that you can't just drop willy-nilly.
- thfuran 2y ago
  The only solemn commitment Google has is to the bottom line.
  - MetaWhirledPeas 2y ago
    Aren't they still supporting old Google Voice numbers though? I don't see how they could be making any money on that.
    - Uvix 2y ago
      Only US domestic calls are free, international calls have a per-minute charge.
thfuran 2y ago
That's one of their older services. I assume they really like the data they get from it.

danlugo92 2y ago

Whatsapp just retroactivelly blocked google voice numbers recently

rwmj 2y ago
That's nothing to do with security, just Meta wanting to know everything about you / being annoyed that another company has that data instead of them.
- immibis 2y ago
  Security of shareholder value!
BenjiWiebe 2y ago
Knock on wood, mine still works. Please, any Whatsapp/Meta engineers, don't go specifically disable mine now that you read this comment.
einsteinx2 2y ago
How recently?

bushbaba 2y ago

Because that real phone number is tied to an imei number which can be used to track your historical and real time location from teleco data

betaby 2y ago
And yet it is 'impossible' to police to recover stolen iPhone.
- dboreham 2y ago
  Unrelated. Tracking data is service-side, not secret to the phone.
- ceejayoz 2y ago
  It’s entirely possible. They just don’t care.

kyrra 2y ago

This is why I like Google Fi. It is much harder to do account takeout over of a Google Fi number compared to most telecos. The attacker would have to take over the Google account which seemed to be harder to do.

lokar 2y ago
I agree, and also use Fi But, I worry about what happens if I somehow get locked out of the account…
- edoceo 2y ago
  Just post on socials (that you can still access) about being locked out and then hope for the best?
  - lokar 2y ago
    Well, for now, I still have former co-workers there who can help, but that won’t last forever.
    - kyrra 2y ago
      For the most part, the "have a friend at Google" doesn't help anymore. They even tell us googlers to use the external process when our account gets locked.
- jopsen 2y ago
  Verifying people after account loss/compromise is hard. So which would you prefer: (A) A low-level customer service representative can restore your access, but said representative is arguably susceptible to social engineering and other human weaknesses. (B) Your account can be protected be physically 2FA key (yubikey), but on the case of loss/compromised account processes for recovery are hard to navigate and may not yield successful recovery? In the case of (A) you have little security. In the case of (B) you can do a LOT to prevent account loss, but if bad things happen (whether your fault or not) you are locked out by default. From a privacy point of view, I'm not sure that (B) is such a bad option.