Why does Google do this?

YouTube · Unread post by **K4sum1** » 23 Jun 2024, 08:35

So many times I've wanted to log into Google, and instead of something like verify your recovery email, or get a code emailed, or a form of 2FA I can tolerate, they ask "Get a verification code sent to your phone".

Now you might think, oh it's the phone number connected to this account? Fuck no, you can put in any random phone number and they will just send you a code.

I put in a new phone number that Google has not seen from me before, they just sent it a code, and it worked. Literally all this does is verify if user has a phone number. This does no user authentication, it is only a burden to users with phones, and would lock out people without a phone. Literally if my password gets leaked or guessed, this "2FA" would let any "hacker" just waltz in. It makes no sense. Why is this a thing?

Jevil7452 · Unread post by **Jevil7452** » 23 Jun 2024, 17:39

Maybe it's some sort of anti-bot check?

YouTube · Unread post by **K4sum1** » 23 Jun 2024, 17:53

Google doesn't trust their own Recaptcha smfh

Niko · Unread post by **Niko** » 27 Jun 2024, 22:40

K4sum1 wrote: ↑23 Jun 2024, 17:53 Google doesn't trust their own Recaptcha smfh

I swear that recaptcha lets bots trough just fine but is a pain in the ass for normal users. I mean fuck it even the stupid AI hcaptcha generated shit is better IMO

Niko · Unread post by **Niko** » 27 Jun 2024, 22:42

K4sum1 wrote: ↑23 Jun 2024, 08:35 Now you might think, oh it's the phone number connected to this account? Fuck no, you can put in any random phone number and they will just send you a code.

Yup i was real surprised when i did that. I mean in general almost all forms of 2fa google offers are kinda trash. Like with recaptcha they are better at keeping users out of their accounts then actuall hackers.

Unread post by **Duke** » 14 Jul 2024, 16:30

Something else Google is doing in Chromium based browsers (Chrome, Edge, Brave, other ?): the hidden and unremovable extension which grants access to private APIs giving full access to system / tab CPU usage, GPU usage, and memory usage to any *.google.com site:
https://simonwillison.net/2024/Jul/9/hangout_servicesthunkjs/

Unread post by **Duke** » 10 Mar 2025, 11:04

Food for thought:
https://www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome/index.html

UCyborg · Unread post by **UCyborg** » 10 Mar 2025, 21:21

App Manager's (Android) remarks about Chrome:

The-10-Pen · Unread post by **The-10-Pen** » 10 Mar 2025, 22:36

Chrome versus Bromite = Apples to Oranges
One can not compare "bare bones" Chrome without any ad-blocking to Bromite which includes ad-blocking.

Personally, I do not trust EMBEDDED ad-blocking!
All that does is "shift" the 'trust' from developer of Chrome to the developer of Bromite.
It's a blind trust, why would I trust Bromite over Chrome?
Bromite has X users. Chrome has Y users. X < Y. Y is a needle in a hastack at Google. X is a small stack of papers read through in an afternoon.

Blindly trusting Bromite just kind of reminds me of news like this - https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/24/ddg-microsoft-tracking-blocking-limit/

Osaka · Unread post by **Osaka** » 25 May 2025, 21:05

Preach! I had two accounts that I was locked out of tied to two different phone numbers I no longer have (I've been in this game for a long time, hehe), and Google is willing to do NOTHING to help their userbase with this issue. I tried Google Community Forums upon their recommendation which just consists of non-employee users just telling you to eat it and die basically. Gee, thanks a lot.

They are *sort of* contactable via Twitter/X only, and even then it's extremely excruciatingly difficult to get the attention of a human being.

Since then, I've gotten one of my accounts back, no thanks to them. I just attempted it enough times to where I gained access to an email verification loophole and even then I had to wait 30 days to get a password reset link. I waited and I held that one down.

Unfortunately, the other account does not have the email route (that barely works anyway) so I'm still working on getting that one back.

If you find any headway with this in the future, please let me know, K4sum1. This is oppressively ridiculous.

And don't even get me started on Facebook/Meta. Ugh!

YouTube · Unread post by **K4sum1** » 26 May 2025, 08:49

All my gmail accounts just forward to my main now so I don't really use them for much. I just have my one "main" account which is just used for YT and MicroG, and like 5 other accounts that I never use. If i need to log in, sometimes they do email or phone idk. Just annoying in my case.

xperceniol_sal · Unread post by **xperceniol_sal** » 27 May 2025, 22:45

Google is evil!

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