It’s been some years that I am not able to log in to my Google account, because I stopped using it for a very long time any Google product, and now even providing my password, they say they can not know if it is me or now…
They send me to this support page which seems like I have lost my account with all the data and stuff I had from when I was younger…
I don’t think this is normal or ethic to do (I know Google has been never ethic), but this makes me so angry because I never wanted to lose all that data…
Do they basically know every people networks? And if you don’t let them know… you lose access to Google? … 😠
A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.
Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.
Some Rules
- Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn’t great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
- Don’t promote proprietary software
- Try to keep things on topic
- If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
- Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
- Be nice :)
Related communities
Chat rooms
-
[Matrix/Element]Dead
much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)
- 0 users online
- 57 users / day
- 383 users / week
- 1.5K users / month
- 5.7K users / 6 months
- 1 subscriber
- 2.96K Posts
- 74.6K Comments
- Modlog
It has absolutely nothing to do with ethics. Do you even remotely have a clue how many hundreds of thousands of acct hacks are attempted and succeed/fail every day?
You claim you never wanted to lose the data, yet haven’t got into that acct for years…clearly it’s nothing important.
Google sucks from a privacy standpoint, but has amazing security, and they need to, Googles level of paranoia with accts is literally the only way to keep accts safe, people have way too much in them. Even going back years before it was cranked up like it is now, the options to have backup email addresses, phone numbers, 2FA, all other ways to verify yourself in the event of an acct lockout.
They’re asking to access to my local network is.
I have all my photos and stuff from where I was young, I don’t access every day but yeah I didn’t want to lose them all. You want to make a list of everything I lost and expose here a big list of personal stuff?
It’s not about security, they’re just blocking me even they know where I am from, and my IPs are from the same zone, and they could message me a verification code on my phone as that never changed.
You are pretty wrong on the whole text you wrote.
Your first mistake was Google itself
But I was just a kid… xD
They get em early don’t they over there at the big G.
removed by mod
Oh right, I forgot about the
_nomap… but I don’t want to name my SSID like that… it’s pretty ugly name. Or maybe I can make it shorter with the nameplease_nomap, that would look a nice name. hahaharemoved by mod
I never used Reddit… xD
And I always called my Wi-Fi networks as the same from years ago, this way my family always can get in without asking me the password. Now the permanent name will be something to make it cool with that ugly suffix… 🤮
EDIT:
_nomapis Google and_optoutfor Microsoft? WTF → https://superuser.com/questions/1005235/wi-fi-opt-out-microsoft-googleremoved by mod
Is is too late to add _nomap _output to my SSID these days?
removed by mod
I just hid and renamed the ssid for now. I’ve read somewhere that google now only maps ssids when you enable location awareness on your phone. This is from 2022 -> https://www.howtogeek.com/788837/your-wi-fi-info-is-in-google-and-microsofts-databases-should-you-care/
Wow I didn’t knew that. What about hided ssid? Can google still know about that? Do I need to put ssid nomap optout? Thanks
removed by mod
Well, in a way, they do provide accurate geolocalisation for indoor environments based on wifi networks. And it is right that having internet/bluethooth access also (more or less) reveals your location; but that doesn’t make it ethical.
removed by mod
You are thinking of https://opencellid.org and of Mozilla location services. You can contribute to them with the TowerCollector app.
UnifiedNLP is just one interface that can use many “backends” or “location services”, like the Mozilla one, an offline list, or even google itself via microG.
removed by mod
Folks, get regular Google Takeouts (you can schedule them) and back them up using something like Vorta + borgbase.com
That’s very interesting, thanks for sharing!
Is there a tutorial for this ?
Probably if you Google it or search on the Vorta website.
The short version, after some research, is that Borg is better suited for Linux users as it involves ssh key based authentication to the backup server hosted on borgbase.com.
Whereas restic is maybe simpler to setup if you’re on Windows.
The good news is that, whichever “protocol” you use, borgase.com provides cheap cloud storage supporting both, for as little as 24€/year for 250 GB. It’s the plan I have and it fits comfortably my ~130GB of Google Photos + all the other Gapps exports (~10GB gmail + 15GB gdocs being the biggest offenders after photos).
You can read a lot about this by just Googling Borg vs restic.
Both Borg and restic are just the backend apps, you’ll want a frontend as well, be it a CLI or a separate GUI application. Since I use Borg on Linux I paired it with Vorta, simple GUI and has scheduled backups and alerts you if they haven’t run in a while, plus you can mount your backups to local paths to inspect their contents and extract data selectively.
Dunno if the same is possible with restic, but there are also GUIs for that, for sure.
Enjoy!
I mean, is there a tutorial on how Borg gets the Takeout files ? Do I have to do that manually or is there an automated process to hand over the take out files for me ?
Not that I’m aware of, I’m doing the Takeout part by myself.
You can however request the Takeout to be recurring, e.g. once every N months. Or you can just request a one time takeout.
I did the latter just to know how much space it takes, but I’m going for the recurring ones from now on. Google will send you a mail once the Takeout archive(s) is/are ready for download.
I’ll try automate the whole process, if successful, I’ll post about it.
My favorite was getting locked out of a multi-year account that had paid GPlay apps that required an active account to run. The app purchases are tied to the account so they effectively stole those subscription fees.
I still have to maintain a G account for that one app. (Radarscope)
The same thing is going on with Google Play gift cards. I’ve lost $150 not understanding how difficult it is to correct any issues with redeeming them as they don’t have phone support for them, only automated email.
Since I have rocks in my head I tried 13 times to get the issue fixed with photos of the card and the receipts. The store were they were bought washed their hands of it saying there’s no refunds on gift cards. It was ridiculous and I had to give up. I needed to do charge backs on my credit card and I can never redeem a gift card on my google accounts again.
Reading online it happens often where people buy them in a grocery store with cash and are unable to redeem them and there is no recourse. Google is keeping millions of dollars of unused Google Play cards. At least there was a class action lawsuit at one point in California about it. Not sure if it’s gotten anywhere. This is when I think government intervention is needed.
Gotta love that punishment for keeping your private information, well private.
Yeah, I didn’t know but seems this happened to many people… it’s a shame I didn’t know about this… not going to use Google for anything right now… I lost all my purchases too…
PSA: please remember that when Google is talking about security - they mean financial security of their stockholders.
Yeah I lost about 10 accounts this way. Basically if you never linked a phone number, they ban you.
I didn’t know… anyway not going to create any other account unless for testing purposes on my apps development. -.-’
I have never linked a number nor ever been banned
i think linking a backup account and giving security questions can replace providing a phone number but I’m not sure
So if they don’t let you sign-in with not enough information, they’re wrong because, and if they would let anyone with your password signing in, they’d be bad too?
Right…
Don’t forget that OP expected Google to hold onto their data forever, without paying them, despite not logging in “for a very long time”.
For all the hills to die on about Google, this is a pretty strange one to choose.
Well no shit - you’re saying it like that’s some crazy idea, when it’s exactly what Google has conditioned consumers to expect.
Yeah. I have no issues recognizing errors/shortcomings of services I like, but I’m trying to avoid creating fake issues with those I don’t like.
I don’t like Apple, but if you’re looking at the best company when it comes to rounded corners, look no further!
They know my phone number from years ago when I used it, they could send me a verification code too… There are many ways to make this secure, but they don’t even care, I read many people having stupid issues resulting in a “locked account” and losing it all…
Did YOU enable MFA using that phone number when you were logged in years ago?
Nope, I just remember getting “google code verifications”… But I’m sure they know my phone number… xD And I want to point that they have no excuses to contact me for verifications, a simple text message would work.
It gets worse. Not having used my Gmail account for years, old phone died, moved to another state with new number there, and I traveled back to Los Angeles in order to log in on the same network, same laptop, correct password, but I put a new HDD in my Macbook Pro which caused Apple to re-ID the OS, and locked out! No way to recover, I try twice a year. Will not even reset to the correct backup email I have! I just get an email saying I tried to login with no actions possible!
Google stole parts of my life from me, the history in those emails, wow!
STOLEN
I AM NOT MY PHONE
Not your hard drive, not your data.
That is so heavy… fucking Google… really… (At least I don’t get ads now that I don’t have an account)
In Europe you own your data. Don’t you have the California act or something like that there?
Er, that’s not quite what the GDPR means and doesn’t apply in this case. In fact, Google could cite the GDPR in making sure that OPs data doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.
The GDPR gives you a bunch of rights if you’re a EU or UK citizen, including the right for data /about you/ to be forgotten or disclosed. It doesn’t mean google have to hold onto stuff indefinitely (quite the reverse) or provide OP access if they can’t meet Google’s security requirements.
You can request a copy of your data according to Art. 15 of the GDPR. If they reject this, escalate to your local data protection authority. This way, you could gain access to the data even if Google tries to block you.
… well, theoretically, at least.
Two points here:
2, To make a SAR (Subject Access Request), which is what you’re referring to - you need to be able to prove your identity beyond reasonable doubt. Google would obviously refuse that if you can’t log into your account. It would actually be illegal for them to provide that data without such proof, which is why you need to log in to access the Google Takeout features that provide most or all the data a SAR would include.
Same problem. No other ways to verify, just my FULLY CORRECT PASSWORD, so Google has decided I’ll never get to access my old account again.
I posted about it on the Google forum and was told by a self important community person that it is my fault for not logging back into that account to set up backups.
Happy to switch off Gmail now, but it won’t get my old emails with bygone friends and family back.
My fault for expecting my password to get me into my account. Fuck Google man.
Shit scared of this myself, that’s why I have an email client even though I was pretty happy with the web browser. At least there’s local copies. Already lost my hotmail account in a similar manner. Suddenly my password was considered incorrect, no means of recovery because I wasn’t keen on giving them personal info. I guess this somewhat proved their point but it all seems a bit fucked. My password was fine, had been using it since 1998.
I have an alternate Google Account for You Tube when they started requiring that. I must have gotten my name before there was strict guidelines. It is still active. I am the proud owner of the Account FuckYouGoogle.
It’s an honor meeting you tips hat
Is there a miss Fuckyougoogle?
Also Google: “Oh! And P.S.: can we also have your lunch money? It’s for your own security, you see. You may starve, but you’re doing it securely. You’re welcome!”
Hahaha → https://redirect.invidious.io/watch?v=anjQ7Ndddx4
From: Colussus: The Forbin Project
I still have about 3-4 old google accounts I can’t log into anymore since 2015 or so. They started asking questions like “when did you create your account”, “what was your first password” and shit like that. Luckily I had that information, even with that they wouldn’t let me in for some reason. Luckily the accounts weren’t private and just full of spam, so they were of no value.
Leave google when you can.
This literally made me do a full switch to proton. I can’t login with my password without accepting it on my phone (that don’t have google services so I had to use from my girlfriend). And if I use my another e-mail to validate the 2-factor it always mandate me to change my password like my account was compromised. You literally can’t have a google account without an android apparently (this is probably not true for everyone cause apple exists but IDK, in my case I had no other way).
Yeah right, I also started to use ProtonMail + Non-Googled OS on my Android (but with MicroG), and it’s been already 5 years without Google.
I just want to keep gmail in order to get access to all accounts I forgot to migrate, I had a lot of old games and stuff like that that I would migrate as I remember. If was not that I already had blown this account.
I lost my 2 factor for an old account. I have the password and backup codes. I can log in with SMS code, but can’t change anything because it wants the 2 factor code. There’s a log in with a different method button, but it also asks for the 2 factor code.
A lot of services (e.g. reddit) outright refuse to reset anything if you lose your 2FA. Phone breaks and your backup codes got wet? Oops, there goes your account.