Phone number and Google

brandy078

Out of the blue Google forces me to use my phone number for verification.

How safe in l privacy wise os it to give Google my phone number?

I'm from Germany if it depends

trilogy6202

brandy078 Do you mean safe from a cyber security or privacy point of view?

From a cyber security point of view i believe it is safe.

From a privacy point of view, your phone number will be another data point that Google can (and probably will) use to track you, given the opportunity.

router99

brandy078 This happened to me, too. Account is well over a decade in existence, and one day not long ago I got prompted to verify with a phone when logging in on my home computer after clearing cookies and getting a new IP. Thank God I was logged in on another device and was able to create a passkey which I could use on my home computer.

G**gle is absolutely ravenous for personal information and hostile to anonymity more and more as the years progress.

brandy078

trilogy6202 I understand.
What do against? I can't use the Playstore anymore.

trilogy6202

brandy078 Do you need to actually be logged in to your google account because you use their email or other services on your phone? If not, you could try to create an anonymous account: See this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAoCfrqxIEg

brandy078

trilogy6202 this is already my private account.
I only need Google for downloading apps.
And I paid some.....

trilogy6202

brandy078 I don't know how it is now but at least earlier, one way to stop google from asking for your phone number was to configure TOTP as 2nd factor authentication for your account.

brandy078

trilogy6202 Thanks. But I think therefore i need to have access to my account again.

trilogy6202

brandy078 Yes, if you don't have any devices where you are already logged in to your google account, there's probably no way around adding a number to your account.

I believe you can remove it again after adding some form of 2FA but prom a privacy the damage will already have been done.

brandy078

As a solution I ordered a burner sim card.

DeletedUser143

If you are from Germany and already attached your number to a google account before, you are already known, because as much as i know sim cards must be registered by passport. Also your account has purchased items, your bank acc and identity already known.

brandy078

DeletedUser143 I created a new Google Account with an alias email address I created without adding a phone number.
My purchases where paid with gift cards.

Moisture

It happened to me, too. Google gave me a choice (forced me) to provide a phone number or not let me in. I decided that I would't support this shitty practice. Now Google require our phone number, what if Google decide tomorrow, that to be absolutely sure, that we are we, that we need to provide photo of our driving licence or ID?

I have one spare throwaway account that I use for Android. It was never used for sending emails, and it is not connected with a phone number (I hope). If I am forced to connect my phone number, I'll be quite glad Googleless:-)

fid02

For the Google accounts where I've added either an MFA method or a passkey have not yet demanded a phone number; it occasionally requests one but I can tap on Cancel to dismiss it. I had a Google account where I did not have MFA or a passkey registered and I was required to provide phone number when signing in from stock OS. Not sure if that's just a correlation or a real factor.

Also see https://listed.to/p/vznkmwrV5w

xuid0

fid02

I just read the URL shared by yourself: https://listed.to/p/vznkmwrV5w

With the cellular data option in my country we need to register our mobile number with ID, so if one was to look back in say log files for sites I had been accessing from the mobile devices IP they would still see my real name is attached to that IP. For the latter, registering from a public Wi-Fi network is a much better idea like a Library (public) and perhaps looking up where the CCTV cameras are located when at said location would be of use so that one could perhaps avoid being on CCTV? There are websites online where you input an address and it shows all locations of CCTV installations.
Just my thoughts, I hope they help! :)

fid02

xuid0 With the cellular data option in my country we need to register our mobile number with ID, so if one was to look back in say log files for sites I had been accessing from the mobile devices IP they would still see my real name is attached to that IP.

Your cellular provider would be able to see that you had been accessing Google domains. Due to HTTPS it wouldn't be possible for them to see the info you provide to Google.

Is your cellular provider providing you with a static IP address?

xuid0 For the latter, registering from a public Wi-Fi network is a much better idea like a Library (public) and perhaps looking up where the CCTV cameras are located when at said location would be of use so that one could perhaps avoid being on CCTV?

Are you worried about being filmed while creating a Google account? If the library has a lavatory, I guess you could go for a lavatory visit and create it in there. If you're worried that an enclosed lavatory space has hidden cameras, I guess you could hold your phone so close to your body while creating the account to make it impossible for it to get recorded. Everyone should of course consider their own threat models. To me personally, this sounds like an awful lot of trouble.

xuid0

fid02

No I was highlighting I guess if say the CCTV were able to be accessed by Government Official or LE and they wanted to know who was associated with the Google account they would be looking for any associated info with it. That is all.