Today, when I signed in to my Gmail account after having signed out, earlier, something I rarely do, Gmail sent me to a page where it asked me for my phone number to enable more security for my account. I’d like to provide the exact wording of the request but I’ve failed to replicate the process, even though I’ve tried several times. In any case, I’d declined and skipped directly to my email.
Later, still annoyed by Gmail’s asking to me to provide my telephone number, I posted the following on Facebook:
Moments later, having seen that several people had liked the post, I clicked on the notification and was directed to the following page:
Facebook responded to my recent rather mild, I thought, criticism of Facebook, Google, etc. with this:
It took about half an hour for them to take it, the page saying sorry, etc,, down and to allow me access to my original post.
I could call it a glitch. But I’m not stupid.
To be honest, it’s a pretty bad idea *not* to activate the 2-step authentication process on Google — yes, they get your cellphone number, but it makes it a helluva lot harder for other people to log in as you.
I’d be very happy if Google would stop trying to get me into G+ and to use my real name all over the place. Facebook I’d rather not go near at all.
I hear you, and I did see how giving them my number could possibly make it more difficult for my account to be hacked. On the other hand, I felt that giving this already monopolizing entity my number was giving them even more access, and possibly more control, over more of my personal information.
In any case, my days on Facebook and Gmail are definitely numbered.