Want Gmail? Best have your mobile handy Users signing up for a Gmail account are now being asked to provide a mobile-phone number in the continuing war against spam, though Google will keep it handy just in case anything else turns up. The new requirement pops up as part of the Gmail sign-up procedure, and requires the user to provide an SMS-capable number to which …
Step 1. Buy a 10 pounds (money, not weight) pay as you go phone.
Step 2. Sign up for Gmail account.
Step 3. ...
Step 4. Profit!
Someone didn't think this quite through.
alternatively: if you don't like someone (lets call him Dave), get his mobile number and repeatedly sign him up for google stuff... (automated spemmer tools should do the job nicely) 9-8000 texts later watch Dave tear his eyes out to stop the pain.
Anon, because good ideas always come back to haunt you.
How long before we get SMSinator then?
Just use their prefix 07xxx and any 6 numbers of your choice which you can login online to see the text messages for.
Could also allow PAC imports so a semi-decent and viable business model for those wishing to pay for a premium service.
Damn, I just gave this away for free!
Why does everything Google does require more and more of our data, and of course they will always tell us it wont be abused but we are increasingly left to just trust google.
They also have shown that they think themselves bigger than the government and can effectively obey laws selectively.
What do Virgin Media pass to Google? Since Virgin Media request your entire credit record at signup that means Google potentially know your name, address, date of birth, bank details, IP address, email address and search history; very valuable dataset that.
Complaint currently outstanding at the Information Commissioner, but I don't hold out much hope.
"Anyone know an e-mail provider that doesn't require your immortal soul?"
Yes - implement Internet RFC email standards and become your own email provider. If you want full control over your email identity and messages, as opposed to being marketing/identity fodder, then you'll need your own domain name, your own MTA program, and a server (hint: Linux virtual machines are cheap) plus a static IP address to run it on, in order to talk these email standard protocols. Either that or you get someone else, e.g. pay a techy friend or a small and good ISP to do this for you, but then you will have to be able to trust them not to abuse the long-term control over the identity your.prefix@their.domain gives them, or the ability to read your incoming messages. If you don't want to run your own server, better to start by registering and maintaining your own domain, because then at least you can relocate your own independent identity if your email/hosting provider gets less competitive or more intrusive than others.
it won't work at reducing the deluge of spam.
Spammers spoof addresses anyway, they don't use gmail.
sheesh.
Besides, Google's spam filter is one of the best. I do get plenty of spam sent to my gmail account but I never see any of it.
And they aren't getting my mobile number that's for sure.
I dont get it.
all you knobs out there moaning about Google's done this, Google's done that, oh i dont want my front garden on streetview, and now i have to use my mobile number for a free email account.
Its easy... DONT USE FUCKING GOOGLE
no one is forcing you to, there no compelling reason. there are literally thousands of email providers, or as one of you said, run your oen if your porn filled, viagra advertising, daily horoscope emails are that precious and private to YOU.
Get on with life - people are dying in the world.
Me, I love Google. Its great. Its fast, and they give it me for free.
Paris, cos she knows a good thing when shes got it.
Your "Someone didn't think this quite through" comment is deeply ironic.
If you seriously think spammers are going to be willing to invest £10 (or even a fraction of that) for a gmail account, you must have a pretty distorted view of how spammers work. You can buy paid email accounts for much less than that, so why on earth would they spend money to get a "free" account? They use free acounts because they are, you know, free. Google will certainly restrict the number of accounts that a number can be associated with, so this is a non-starter.
And as for abusing the process to grief "Dave" with texts, there are far easier ways to do that, so what would be the point? There are free online SMS portals, not to speak of various SMS spam services you could sign him up for. That's possibly the stupidest way I can think of to generate junk SMS messages. That's even assuming that Google would keep sending messages to the same number, and since Google probably have actually thought about this a bit, they might well not do that.
there are plenty of other email providers, so why don't the whingers just go an join them ? Is there some kind of law tht means that Google have to please you ?
As someone implied above, you are not paying for the service so don't come alll 'customer is right' about it - fgo somewhere else.
I have everything turned off but voice on my cell phone account. As I once explained to a mystified youth, "I don't want to have a relationship with my phone. I just want to talk to people."
I still get SMS messages from the uninformed, but they're empty. I have to call them, if I can discern who it is from, tell them not to do that anymore, what did they want, and, what the Hell was so problematic about using the same phone to actually call me and speak to me personally? Sheesh...
As 'Sergey' knows a large number of very large gentlemen who lack a sense of humour, it might be... unwise... to use his mobile number from anywhere where he might be able to identify.
Of course, if you can work out where 'Larry' hangs out, and set things up so that the spoofing of Sergey's number seems to come from Larry, that's alright, then.
Terminator, 'cause Sergey's boys absolutely will not stop, etc.
Absolutely Outrageous.
While I am all for measures for reducing spam, collecting this sort of info (especially by a monolith which practically owns the internet) is just plain wrong.
I will be seeking an alternative provider for my web based email and will be moving saved emails from my three gmail accounts over.
To hell with the Chocolate Factory - enough is enough.
So they want to check that the person signing up for a gmail acct is a real person. Since robots don't tend to have mobiles, this is a pretty robust way of sorting real people from the bots. It looks like it is only intended for the sign up process. If you change/cease your number it has no effect. They will retain your number for future reference, but won't pass it on under the T&Cs.
Where's the problem?
In any case, I gave my mobile number to google ages ago because I quite like having gmail pushed out to my phone using their activesync service. I certainly haven't noticed it being spammed.
That's a non-issue. A genuine, dyed-in-the-wool Luddite would have no truck with this new-fangled email thing, least of all this new-new-fangled web mail service idea, which is quite obviously the work of Satan.
Anyhow, it doesn't matter how many features you switch off. Owning something where the backlight doesn't involve tallow and a wick instantly rules you out as a Luddite.
At least you accept you are a luddie but come on.. a text is hardly the most complex or invasive thing to recieve. Personally, I prefer them as I dont feel compelled to pick up the phone when one comes in which you generally do with a call.
That said, i'm thinking all the moaners in this thread should;
A). Take their email requirements elsewhere.
B). STFU.
I'm incredibly keen in privacy but they're making a mountain out of a molehill and missing the obvious point that within their email accounts there is probably far more sensitive information than merely their mobile number.
You know.. the law that says a company cannot hold data for longer than required to provide the service?
So I can just send Google a DPA notice to provide me with all the data they hold on me, plus the reason they hold it. They send back a list including by life history. I point to the mobile number and say: you don't need that, delete it.
If they fail to delete it, they get prosecuted for data protection violation.
And I know Google have offices here in Eire, so they have to respond to an Irish court.
Facebook want to add pictures of me on ads they show to my friends now google want my phone number to use their service. I'm deeply suspicious of these companies at the end of the day the more personal information they know about you then more money they stand to make, I think this presents them with an inherent conflict of interests when it comes to user privacy. You just can't trust them, simple as that.
What's the big effin' secret? I've already given Google have my mobile number. I have had no marketing calls or SMSes of any kind. Google calendar uses my number to send me free SMS event reminders. I sometimes set one of these up when I think I might need an excuse to leave a tedious meeting.
"I still get SMS messages from the uninformed, but they're empty. I have to call them, if I can discern who it is from, tell them not to do that anymore, what did they want, and, what the Hell was so problematic about using the same phone to actually call me and speak to me personally? Sheesh..."
I can see where you're coming from but it just sounds like you're being deliberately obtuse.
Wouldn't it be much easier and less problematic to just allow your phone to receive text messages? As you're still going to receive blank messages even with SMS turned off. Might as well enable SMS so you can see the actual text and save yourself the trouble of winding up your friends.
The gain here is in the number of accounts you can create - it aims to block bulk email account creation, which makes spamming easier. And all those phone companies won't give you those sims totally free -you'll pay them with your name and address, and consent for marketing materials...
How about a different IT angle...?
In order to use a SIM, even a freebie, you still have to register with a service. On that basis, if the email account "idunno@gmail" was sending spam, the phone number could serve as extra source of information for the police to track and, thereby, address matters of "email courtesy and etiquitte" in the real world. Politely, of course. With the utmost restraint and (self-) control.
It may not help - some people change phone numbers as often as they do socks and emails can be spoofed. I would not want to become a "false-positive" either.
Depending upon the activity on the account (some criminals are criminally stupid), even a PAYG phone could be traced by top-ups and the method of payment for those top-ups. Following the money is fairly easy and it only takes one slip-up for the criminal to be spotted. If law enforcement are going to take the time and dig deep enough to find where the email actually came from, isn't about time they profitted from that effort and found someone they could convict in the real world?
"your number will never be sold or shared for marketing purposes without your permission, nor will we contact you using this number without your express permission".
Notice it doesn't say that Google themselves won't use it for their marketing and advertising purposes. Probably applies to their subsidiaries as well.
Use GMX.com instead. No effort and don't want your soul.
Some of are "of a certain vintage" and actually use mobile phones to conduct conversations rather than all these extra things like cutting apples, baking potatoes, and finding Virgins that seem to come as part of the load nowadays. Do Google give lessons on how to find this SMS thingy, then??
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