I remember when they offered 1GB, was at a time when I think the standard hotmail was like either 10 MB or 100 MB, and they made the announcement on april 1st.
Then did it via an invite system.
You know now that I think of it, I wonder what would have happened if google plus had used a similar playbook to that. Seems like with gmail google knew the "exclusivity" was a selling point. Facebook grew big via similar strategies (only these special college students can get it, ok a few more colleges can), meanwhile google plus was "HEY, USE GOOGLE PLUS NOW, Oh you aren't using it yet, we made your youtube account a google plus account now, so now you have an account please use it now!
While social media in general is toxic. I do feel design wise google plus was leaps and bounds ahead of facebook at the time. Circles is IMO the feature that would have made social media actually semi-useful. (IE post your video game content to gamer friends, fun activities to friends, and not putting any job risking content to bosses etc...).
I think so, I don't remember how long that was. But I do distinctly remember the era where it was shoved down everyone's throat, which I have to say stuck with people far more. Telling people that they must use it, generated so much hatred for it it was insane.
I don't think marketing was wave's problem... nobody understood what the hell wave was. I used it for a few months.. and I can't tell you what the hell it was.
Yeah, the whole 'you now have a mandatory account' made for a mad scramble of how to disable every possible scrap of data sent to them. It may have been some small push into the self hosting game too.
I liked Google Circles. Was sad it went away. It definitely made sure that my interactions/upvotes on Aunt Nancy's account wasn't seen by MIL who hates her guts and deems my interaction with her a sign of betrayal.
Fellow OG. I remember. The day it was close to hitting 5gb I was watching it like an every guy watches their car odometer as it hits some magic number. It was worthy of celebration.
1gb back then was 5x the allowed size for my exchange mailbox at work. HUGE!
You're going to have a hard time beating $2/mo unless you roll it into something else like blackblaze ($100/year for unlimited storage), Microsoft office 365 ($100/year with 1 TB of OneDrive), etc. If your space is going to photos, the speed and responsiveness of Google photos far outpaces some of the alternatives (cough cough OneDrive).
Self hosting is a viable alternative if you're interested in having more control/local storage or if you are interested in this kind of thing and want to do it/dabble in it as a hobby.
I personally built a NAS, which will take far too long to amortize vs just paying $2/mo. I chose this route because I value a local backup and because a NAS can a bit of a lifestyle product. "It can double as a server!". Sounds fun, but I would want to build the thing I host which will also take time so... You could potentially build a NAS that will average out to $2 or less a month if you have spare parts or score some used parts cheap. Odds are that route could also be used for self hosting.
Microslop OneDrive wants $20/m for 1T. However you slice it, we pay for them to back stuff up on a cloud that we used to just back up on our own physical storage. This also gives them access to all our info/pics etc to scan for their AI bots.
5GB is plenty for emails, won't be an issue for 99% of people.
THE problem with google's storage is that they actively mislead consumers:
They bother customers during setup and after with: "Do you want to backup your device?" To which a considerable amount of people react to as "Yeah ofcourse I want that!"
Google does not show any indication where this backup goes or about the eventual payment so people just forget about it.
After some time their gmail and photos app will start to complain: "YOUR STORAGE IS FULL" - with constant notifications. And their Gmail stops working so they can't receive emails anymore.
These regular people confuse 'storage' with internal storage so they start looking for ways to expand their internal storage, which obviously doesn't do anything.
Eventually they give up and either pay google the ransom or make a new email.
This is the real dark pattern behind their "free cloud"
It is interesting. I've deleted almost all my emails from my Gmail account and it just won't go bellow 50% full. There is no way to see what is taking up the space.
My mother on the other hand has 3000+ emails and it's at like 15% full. They absolutely do this on purpose.
Did you ever use Google Photos to store your pics? That is what has my Gmail/google storage at 99% full, even though it's been over a decade since I used it and I disconnected it from all my accounts.. except apparently not. You can go through the steps to disconnect, it looks like it works, but it doesn't. I currently have an iPhone, and if I try to delete all the photos in Google Photos, it will still sync with my phone and also delete the same photos on my phone. No matter what I do, I can't severe that connection. And so I'm stuck at 99%
oh yea they hide thier back up location very well, you have to go digging in your google drive and click on the backup/cloud option to see where it went.
Google is reportedly testing a 5GB storage limit for new Gmail accounts, down from the standard 15GB.
Users can “unlock” the full 15GB of free storage by adding a phone number to their account.
Seems they’re trying to get phone numbers this way. Maybe it’s for increased user data, maybe it’s to prevent fraudulent activity, maybe it’s to have more information to give authorities.
phone numbers were already an almost mandatory addition to new Google accounts. You need to set up 2FA when you make a new account, and the option to use an authenticator app is so well hidden... meanwhile Google still wants your phone number "to authenticate you", even though it's less secure than storing your password on a post it on your phone.
I work with homeless people and I discovered you can no longer make email without a cell phone with any major provider. I can't get them into their social security without an email.
I was able to find an email provider that didn't require a cell phone, but then you had to use a cell phone to get past the verification on the social security site. You are absolutely fucked without a cell phone now.
Thats really twisted. They really want to make not owning a cell spy a crime. Every time I learn something new about Surveillance it makes me more anarchist.
I wouldn't assume stupid is by design. Malice intent can be professional at hiding in plain sight. Just because its the easiest route doesn't mean it can't also be intended for shady reasons. Kind of like how designers forget how to add wheelchair paths for Libraries.
apparently they both will delete your account after 6 months of inactivity. i had mail.com accounts since mid 2000s, and they have deleted quite a few of mines after they made that change(from permanent email before 2020,inactivity to every 6 months), just be warned if you dont use or login, your accts get deleted, they wont help you after that.
i have mail.com, i found that in mid 2000s, before 2021, they use to never delete your account if you dint use it for a while, but now its every 6 months if you dont have activity the account will be deleted. i was initially using that for resume, just a warning if you intend to keep an address and use it once in a while. i had to move some of my stuff back to google around that same time they made changes.
Proton doesn't work with social security website unfortunately. I ended up using Tuta mail but then later got stuck on Login.gov because it required either a cell phone to verify by taking pictures of ID or a desktop with a camera for a video call.
Needless to say this is not something someone with no computer skills can accomplish. What is even worse is the local social security office stopped taking walk-ins. The solution? You guessed it, use the social security site to login and request an appointment....
In order to sign up at the SS website on my laptop so I could get an updated statement, I had to use my phone to take pictures of my ID and myself. It kept failing/dropping. It was a giant PIA. Finally got it to work but I had to attempt a couple different days. I don't know how someone who has no experience with a smart phone and laptop or tablet manages. I think I heard that about 25% SS employees were DOGE'd as well as many field offices closed and it can be incredibly difficult to get an appointment (some are just not staffed), especially if you reside in a rural county. I have to help my husband get signed up on the website and I dread it. He has a very thin frustration threshold with tech he can't get to work. I foresee his phone flying across the room.
Can you elaborate on the social security thing? I have lived most of my life outside the States and hope to never need SS, but, well, best to know what's going on just in case.
Apparently they cut a bunch of staff and many offices are by appointment only now. So basically you need to account for this if you are going to file.
Most of the troubles I have had are helping people whom are not technologically savvy and they sometimes don't have a cell phone. Not having a cell phone makes the process extremely difficult because apparently it is just taken for granted that everyone has one nowadays.
You don't need to worry until you are probably 62 which would be early retirement for you. You full retirement would be 67 which just means you get a higher benefit the longer you wait. When the time comes you can always reach out to Social Security and they will explain the process.
I tried to make a second account recently, and it wanted me to scan a qr code with my phone that then wanted to send me a text message. At the same time they were saying "this won't associate your phone with the account." I don't believe that.
believe nothing any company claims... assume whatever they claim is a lie, and they are about to defraud you because we'll... that's all they know how to do... illegal activities, mislead, fraud...
To be generous, this could just be anti-botting. It sucks that bots suck up so many resources, and make things that could be free not free just to try to stop them. When you can have bots create thousands of accounts trivially, it makes sense that they need to provide some kind of identifier.
i assuming you refering to google accounts/bots. Bots on other social media would make tons of google accounts at once so they can spam on those sites, i was in a forum where they all make hordes of google accounts so they "are trusted by reddit" that they wont get filtered out and banned immediately by reddit.
Probably not the place for it, but I'd be good with YouTube dying. And I'm someone who pays for YT Premium (gasp!).
Something will take it's place, something better. I think about what it would take to scale to YT's size from an infrastructure standpoint and the only thing close, I think, are porn sites.
How great would it be to have HubHomez by PornHub as a YT alternative. Need to work on the branding a bit but I don't care about the platform. I'll follow the creators to StreamyFling, a collaboration of xHamster and xvideos. Same infrastructure, different content.
They're large enough to ban alternative providers from mailing their servers and see little in the way of puahback. But I agree that the future lies elsewhere. Recently started moving email to disroot.org.
I transitioned to a custom domain backed by iCloud some years ago but just kind of let the Gmail sit around because it a) functioned as a decent catch all for garbage and b) I was just too lazy to move over some less important accounts to the new email.
This is a good reminder to migrate the last of it over and let the gmail account atrophy.
It's not about the 15 GB but there was a time where Gmail was new and fancy - and Google's slogan "Don't be evil" as a young and uprising company. As the market got saturated, the business model (or the direction) changed and it's not only Google, M$ also did reduce free space in OneDrive after many years some time ago.
"Don't be evil" was just the referral to this slogan and I don't care if it's 15 GB or 30 GB today as I choose to pay for the services these days instead of just relying on any free(mium) model.
Ente and Immich are great for photos, although Immich is meant to be self-hosted (not sure about Ente). I use mailbox.org + Thunderbird email client and both support pgp encryption for emails, it's awesome and only cost 12€ a year for the light plan (2G). People like Tuta but it doesn't support 3rd party mail clients like Thunderbird. Maybe Proton mail.
I have a drive bay attached to my network that I've been using as my "GDrive" but I need to do an actual off-site backup location... You can self host Nextcloud for storage. I think I'll use backblaze as a backup for my immich photos, all the other shit means nothing to me if it blows up cause I'll just redownload it. You could also just encrypt your files with Cryptomator and then upload the encrypted files to Gdrive.
I still have my gmail account from 2004 or so. I never delete anything, and it is where all the garbage mail goes, although I use it occasionally for purchases and other things.
So 22 years of email, never deleting anything, and I am well under 5gb.
You're lucky enough to have a non-common email address then and/or unsubscribe from tons of stuff? Mine is a common first name + 2 digits, and I've hit the limit a couple times.
i dont think i ever unsubscribe on that account, I don't pay much attention to it. common name? No not really so nobody is guess spamming it I suppose.
I think i have a ton of emails from places the no longer exist! I outlasted them!
IIRC, they launched with 1GB (which was ridiculously much for the time) and later only had "unlimited" in the sense of "continuously slowly increasing". Until they reached 15GB and never budged from there again.
But I do remember thinking 1gb and it growing over time was worth implementing GmailFS and using a free gmail account as a "get to it anywhere" file system I could mount on Linux.
It depends entirely on the implementation. Is it genuinely a "second factor"? Or are they just going to let you use one or the other? Because MFA is a real benefit to account security, even if SMS is the weakest version of it.
I would prefer they didn't do this, but I understand. Storage isn't without cost. 5 GB is a lot for email actually. It's probably intended to reduce abuse from bots. We should probably not be using free email anyway.
Storage is incredibly cheap, though. If Google used S3, the cost for a 15GB account would be pennies a year, and since they host their own architecture it can be orders of magnitude less. This isn't about recouping costs. This is just about shaking users down for more subscription money.
If it were, they wouldn't tie it to storage space. That doesn't matter to scammers and spammers; they'd require it for sending to more than x recipients per month, or for API access, or for any number of other things. The one thing spammers and scammers don't need is storage space. They just need a trusted email gateway and IP address.
That's the excuse. But phone numbers tied to names are available all over the dark web and the light web—that's a fundamentally worthless data point by now. They don't actually want that, they're just saying it so you think it's for scam prevention.
America hasn’t been a democracy in a long time. What we vote for and the legislation that is passed are two different things.
Trump is probably the most explicit example of this. He ran on lowering prices, no wars and cheap energy. Yes you are an idiot if you believe him, but many did. What Trump is delivering is not what the people wanted. Many other politicians make the same empty promises or corporate propaganda gets the gullible in line to support what the elite want.
The populace gets angry and the other party takes power. But nothing changes and
Don't be so casual about passing your phone number out.
The correct response is "5 GB is plenty for email. It's probably just to reduce abuse from bots. What's the big deal?"
Nothing different from here on, but it's not like everyone needs it. Given it acts as a 2nd authentication factor for a lot of services, given that it can be part of an overall data profile for you that gets sold to scammers, it's worth not slinging out to everyone who asks.
Sure, what's done is done. My suggestion is just, when presented with the option, don't.
150 Comments
Stupidmanager@lemmy.world · 271 pts · 90d
Anyone else remember when Google bragged about never being worried about storage as you watched your storage free count, grow and grow and grow.
elvith@feddit.org · 29 pts · 90d
TBF when Iade an account there to check it out back then, they offered about 1GB. But that was huge for the time back then
TheFogan@programming.dev · 22 pts · 89d
I remember when they offered 1GB, was at a time when I think the standard hotmail was like either 10 MB or 100 MB, and they made the announcement on april 1st.
Then did it via an invite system.
You know now that I think of it, I wonder what would have happened if google plus had used a similar playbook to that. Seems like with gmail google knew the "exclusivity" was a selling point. Facebook grew big via similar strategies (only these special college students can get it, ok a few more colleges can), meanwhile google plus was "HEY, USE GOOGLE PLUS NOW, Oh you aren't using it yet, we made your youtube account a google plus account now, so now you have an account please use it now!
While social media in general is toxic. I do feel design wise google plus was leaps and bounds ahead of facebook at the time. Circles is IMO the feature that would have made social media actually semi-useful. (IE post your video game content to gamer friends, fun activities to friends, and not putting any job risking content to bosses etc...).
elvith@feddit.org · 11 pts · 89d
Google Plus was invite only in the beginning, though
TheFogan@programming.dev · 6 pts · 89d
I think so, I don't remember how long that was. But I do distinctly remember the era where it was shoved down everyone's throat, which I have to say stuck with people far more. Telling people that they must use it, generated so much hatred for it it was insane.
can@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 89d
They tried that with Google Wave.
TheFogan@programming.dev · 8 pts · 89d
I don't think marketing was wave's problem... nobody understood what the hell wave was. I used it for a few months.. and I can't tell you what the hell it was.
greenbit@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 89d
Also got into and and used it, I'd describe it as Gdocs multiplayer beta
can@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 86d
From what I remember that's apt.
HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club · 2 pts · 89d
And that was the end of the wave for invite started social media.
ShellMonkey@piefed.socdojo.com · 2 pts · 89d
Yeah, the whole 'you now have a mandatory account' made for a mad scramble of how to disable every possible scrap of data sent to them. It may have been some small push into the self hosting game too.
Lucelu2@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 89d
I liked Google Circles. Was sad it went away. It definitely made sure that my interactions/upvotes on Aunt Nancy's account wasn't seen by MIL who hates her guts and deems my interaction with her a sign of betrayal.
mimavox@piefed.social · 1 pts · 88d
Yes, I thought Google Plus was way better, but that didn't matter since exactly everyone used Facebook back then.
Stupidmanager@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 90d
Fellow OG. I remember. The day it was close to hitting 5gb I was watching it like an every guy watches their car odometer as it hits some magic number. It was worthy of celebration.
1gb back then was 5x the allowed size for my exchange mailbox at work. HUGE!
doingthestuff@lemy.lol · 12 pts · 89d
I remember. I'm also paying Google $2 a month for 100gb. Fucking bastards. But can you point me to 100GB for less?
IMALlama@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 89d
You're going to have a hard time beating $2/mo unless you roll it into something else like blackblaze ($100/year for unlimited storage), Microsoft office 365 ($100/year with 1 TB of OneDrive), etc. If your space is going to photos, the speed and responsiveness of Google photos far outpaces some of the alternatives (cough cough OneDrive).
Self hosting is a viable alternative if you're interested in having more control/local storage or if you are interested in this kind of thing and want to do it/dabble in it as a hobby.
I personally built a NAS, which will take far too long to amortize vs just paying $2/mo. I chose this route because I value a local backup and because a NAS can a bit of a lifestyle product. "It can double as a server!". Sounds fun, but I would want to build the thing I host which will also take time so... You could potentially build a NAS that will average out to $2 or less a month if you have spare parts or score some used parts cheap. Odds are that route could also be used for self hosting.
Lucelu2@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 89d
Microslop OneDrive wants $20/m for 1T. However you slice it, we pay for them to back stuff up on a cloud that we used to just back up on our own physical storage. This also gives them access to all our info/pics etc to scan for their AI bots.
devolution@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 89d
Remember Dont Be Evil???
Rotfl
WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 88d
I wonder if every phone has a Mossad style detonation trigger hidden inside, and if it is rigged to blow at a certain time.
ITGuyLevi@programming.dev · 4 pts · 90d
If you did the annual security 'check-up' you got an extra 2GB (maybe it was just 1GB and I did it a couple of years).
ranzispa@mander.xyz · 3 pts · 89d
50372364.45 GB and growing. It will always be free.
DanWolfstone@leminal.space · 1 pts · 89d
What have you GOT in there, damn
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 3 pts · 89d
they went from that to datamining your emails and your google storage, now they invested so much into AI, they want sell even more services.
biggerbogboy@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 89d
I mean, OneDrive did the same, except their tactic was just to delete your files instead of store them, instead of increasing it…
kernelle@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 144 pts · 89d
5GB is plenty for emails, won't be an issue for 99% of people.
THE problem with google's storage is that they actively mislead consumers:
This is the real dark pattern behind their "free cloud"
mechoman444@lemmy.world · 25 pts · 89d
It is interesting. I've deleted almost all my emails from my Gmail account and it just won't go bellow 50% full. There is no way to see what is taking up the space.
My mother on the other hand has 3000+ emails and it's at like 15% full. They absolutely do this on purpose.
kernelle@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 21 pts · 89d
Are you sure you're not using anything else google related that might clog it up? That's what I'm getting at. Check google one for a breakdown.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 7 pts · 89d
likely backing up to your google cloud with photos, files, essays,,,,etc.
Kite@sh.itjust.works · 15 pts · 89d
Did you ever use Google Photos to store your pics? That is what has my Gmail/google storage at 99% full, even though it's been over a decade since I used it and I disconnected it from all my accounts.. except apparently not. You can go through the steps to disconnect, it looks like it works, but it doesn't. I currently have an iPhone, and if I try to delete all the photos in Google Photos, it will still sync with my phone and also delete the same photos on my phone. No matter what I do, I can't severe that connection. And so I'm stuck at 99%
PalmTreeIsBestTree@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 89d
It is honestly. My Gmail is 16 years old and I’ve only used a third of a gig.
kernelle@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 89d
and if you need more you're probably using a dedicated mail client anyway
SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 89d
Yes, backing up your photos is the killer.
deltapi@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 88d
And they don't even store original quality
WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 88d
Worst part is every job, educational institution, legal institution, will send you PDFs to your gmail.
What a racket, if my father was a bit more sane...
...I'd have him prepare me for actual war. He can run in complete silence in a forest.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 89d
oh yea they hide thier back up location very well, you have to go digging in your google drive and click on the backup/cloud option to see where it went.
kepix@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 88d
ive seen people with full gmail accounts and thounds of unread emails
jqubed@lemmy.world · 124 pts · 90d
Seems they’re trying to get phone numbers this way. Maybe it’s for increased user data, maybe it’s to prevent fraudulent activity, maybe it’s to have more information to give authorities.
fonix232@fedia.io · 61 pts · 90d
phone numbers were already an almost mandatory addition to new Google accounts. You need to set up 2FA when you make a new account, and the option to use an authenticator app is so well hidden... meanwhile Google still wants your phone number "to authenticate you", even though it's less secure than storing your password on a post it on your phone.
Doomsider@lemmy.world · 69 pts · 90d
I work with homeless people and I discovered you can no longer make email without a cell phone with any major provider. I can't get them into their social security without an email.
I was able to find an email provider that didn't require a cell phone, but then you had to use a cell phone to get past the verification on the social security site. You are absolutely fucked without a cell phone now.
TotalCourage007@lemmy.world · 23 pts · 89d
Thats really twisted. They really want to make not owning a cell spy a crime. Every time I learn something new about Surveillance it makes me more anarchist.
HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club · 5 pts · 89d
The problem is that it isn't an intentional design decision. It just happens to be the easiest way to add a "cost" to sign-up.
TotalCourage007@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 88d
I wouldn't assume stupid is by design. Malice intent can be professional at hiding in plain sight. Just because its the easiest route doesn't mean it can't also be intended for shady reasons. Kind of like how designers forget how to add wheelchair paths for Libraries.
cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de · 10 pts · 89d
You can try mail.com or gmx.com. They didn't require a phone when I signed up.
01189998819991197253@infosec.pub · 4 pts · 89d
The GUI of both of those sites are nearly identical. Are they the same service?
cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de · 7 pts · 89d
They are both owned by United Internet.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 6 pts · 89d
apparently they both will delete your account after 6 months of inactivity. i had mail.com accounts since mid 2000s, and they have deleted quite a few of mines after they made that change(from permanent email before 2020,inactivity to every 6 months), just be warned if you dont use or login, your accts get deleted, they wont help you after that.
Doomsider@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 89d
Thank you.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 89d
i have mail.com, i found that in mid 2000s, before 2021, they use to never delete your account if you dint use it for a while, but now its every 6 months if you dont have activity the account will be deleted. i was initially using that for resume, just a warning if you intend to keep an address and use it once in a while. i had to move some of my stuff back to google around that same time they made changes.
NewOldGuard@lemmy.ml · 5 pts · 89d
Proton mail doesn't require a phone number
Doomsider@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 89d
Proton doesn't work with social security website unfortunately. I ended up using Tuta mail but then later got stuck on Login.gov because it required either a cell phone to verify by taking pictures of ID or a desktop with a camera for a video call.
Needless to say this is not something someone with no computer skills can accomplish. What is even worse is the local social security office stopped taking walk-ins. The solution? You guessed it, use the social security site to login and request an appointment....
sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 4 pts · 89d
The way they're going they'll have increased social instability
Lucelu2@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 89d
In order to sign up at the SS website on my laptop so I could get an updated statement, I had to use my phone to take pictures of my ID and myself. It kept failing/dropping. It was a giant PIA. Finally got it to work but I had to attempt a couple different days. I don't know how someone who has no experience with a smart phone and laptop or tablet manages. I think I heard that about 25% SS employees were DOGE'd as well as many field offices closed and it can be incredibly difficult to get an appointment (some are just not staffed), especially if you reside in a rural county. I have to help my husband get signed up on the website and I dread it. He has a very thin frustration threshold with tech he can't get to work. I foresee his phone flying across the room.
NewOldGuard@lemmy.ml · 3 pts · 89d
Damn it’s like they don’t want the system working at all, that’s so convoluted and unnecessary
RecursiveParadox@piefed.social · 2 pts · 88d
Can you elaborate on the social security thing? I have lived most of my life outside the States and hope to never need SS, but, well, best to know what's going on just in case.
Doomsider@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 88d
Apparently they cut a bunch of staff and many offices are by appointment only now. So basically you need to account for this if you are going to file.
Most of the troubles I have had are helping people whom are not technologically savvy and they sometimes don't have a cell phone. Not having a cell phone makes the process extremely difficult because apparently it is just taken for granted that everyone has one nowadays.
You don't need to worry until you are probably 62 which would be early retirement for you. You full retirement would be 67 which just means you get a higher benefit the longer you wait. When the time comes you can always reach out to Social Security and they will explain the process.
RecursiveParadox@piefed.social · 2 pts · 88d
Thank you for the explanation.
purplemonkeymad@programming.dev · 9 pts · 89d
I tried to make a second account recently, and it wanted me to scan a qr code with my phone that then wanted to send me a text message. At the same time they were saying "this won't associate your phone with the account." I don't believe that.
Bluegrass_Addict@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 89d
believe nothing any company claims... assume whatever they claim is a lie, and they are about to defraud you because we'll... that's all they know how to do... illegal activities, mislead, fraud...
Cethin@lemmy.zip · 20 pts · 89d
To be generous, this could just be anti-botting. It sucks that bots suck up so many resources, and make things that could be free not free just to try to stop them. When you can have bots create thousands of accounts trivially, it makes sense that they need to provide some kind of identifier.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 89d
i assuming you refering to google accounts/bots. Bots on other social media would make tons of google accounts at once so they can spam on those sites, i was in a forum where they all make hordes of google accounts so they "are trusted by reddit" that they wont get filtered out and banned immediately by reddit.
tackleberry@thelemmy.club · 1 pts · 89d
all that effort to post on redshit
foremanguy92_@lemmy.ml · 11 pts · 89d
How are you creating google account without phone number
jqubed@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 89d
I haven’t made one in years. When I made my account it was back when you needed an invitation.
partofthevoice@lemmy.zip · 9 pts · 89d
Exactly. I’ve been down this path, countless times, you can’t. I ended up using mailsac.com for temp emails instead.
This sounds like Google is offering 5free gigabytes to temporary accounts, something that couldn’t be done before.
magnue@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 89d
Kinda fair. Stops botnets just stealing server space.
perishthethought@piefed.social · 90 pts · 90d
Next up: too many people are exporting their data at once, so now exporting your data costs extra.
sanpo@sopuli.xyz · 67 pts · 90d
Pretty sure that'd be illegal under GDPR.
circuitfarmer@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 89d
webkitten@piefed.social · 69 pts · 90d
magnue@lemmy.world · 31 pts · 89d
Can you please hope I never win the lottery?
stoly@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 89d
Except for YouTube. Spin that off first.
laranis@lemmy.zip · 10 pts · 89d
Probably not the place for it, but I'd be good with YouTube dying. And I'm someone who pays for YT Premium (gasp!).
Something will take it's place, something better. I think about what it would take to scale to YT's size from an infrastructure standpoint and the only thing close, I think, are porn sites.
How great would it be to have HubHomez by PornHub as a YT alternative. Need to work on the branding a bit but I don't care about the platform. I'll follow the creators to StreamyFling, a collaboration of xHamster and xvideos. Same infrastructure, different content.
C'mon porn sites. Do it. Do it.
dubyakay@lemmy.ca · 54 pts · 89d
Remember the 1GB Gmail reaction? I remember:
Damn, this image can now drink alcohol in the US.
Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works · 51 pts · 90d
High storage costs is hitting them too ehh
Bluescluestoothpaste@sh.itjust.works · 9 pts · 90d
You mean high equity costs lol
Cantaloupe@lemmy.fedioasis.cc · 49 pts · 89d
Thank you Google for TURNING INTO FUCKING APPLE RIGHT AFTER I SWITCH TO A FUCKING PIXEL
The_Almighty_Walrus@lemmy.world · 58 pts · 89d
GrapheneOS is built for Google devices. Doesn't really solve the email problem though.
hansolo@lemmy.today · 19 pts · 89d
De-googling your life solves the email problem.
echodot@feddit.uk · 3 pts · 89d
Aren't Google breaking that though?
hansolo@lemmy.today · 7 pts · 89d
They wish. They're adding friction to a few sites, but they can't force literally the whole world to use gmail...right?
cockmushroom@reddthat.com · 3 pts · 89d
They're large enough to ban alternative providers from mailing their servers and see little in the way of puahback. But I agree that the future lies elsewhere. Recently started moving email to disroot.org.
ramenshaman@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 89d
https://tuta.com/secure-email
ScriptSage@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 89d
Lmao I'm in the same boat
krisevol@lemmus.org · 5 pts · 89d
You own a Google phone, and somehow think they don't already have your number?
MightyPez@fedia.io · 25 pts · 90d
I transitioned to a custom domain backed by iCloud some years ago but just kind of let the Gmail sit around because it a) functioned as a decent catch all for garbage and b) I was just too lazy to move over some less important accounts to the new email.
This is a good reminder to migrate the last of it over and let the gmail account atrophy.
MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip · 21 pts · 90d
But don't delete it. The address can be hijacked.
favoredponcho@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 89d
BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 89d
I would actually prefer to move off all the important stuff and let it otherwise fill with garbage.
machine2918@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 90d
Or just do like me, forward the mail and have a rule delete the mail after. I have my own domain, a Google (🤮) account AND an empty Gmail-inbox 🙏
Stupidmanager@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 90d
This is the way.
cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 90d
Too lazy to find a good alternative but I'm still on free google apps for my domain.
kamen@lemmy.world · 25 pts · 89d
"You have 15 GB of space as long as you're not using it all"
Vex_Detrause@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 88d
"You used 80% of your free 15GB, upgrade for more storage. Only $9.99/mo... I mean 5.99/month."
"Wait it's $0.36/month for 3 months."
"No email for you cause you used all 15G. Pay up."
Paraphrase from tactics that they are trying for me to sign up. Heck never.
tatterdemalion@programming.dev · 23 pts · 88d
Imagine how much of Earth's storage space is marketing emails that no one reads.
PearOfJudes@lemmy.ml · 22 pts · 89d
THATS THE ONLY REASON PEOPLE STILL USE GMAIL! Proton Mail has 1 free gb, I didn’t use it when I had the free plan.
freeman@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 88d
Unfortunately not, the main reason the majority of people use gmail is that they don't even know there are other email providers.
wraith@lemmy.demanufacture.org · 18 pts · 89d
The market is saturated and "don't be evil" was a long, long time ago...
8oow3291d@feddit.dk · 2 pts · 89d
So not giving away 15GB of free storage is evil? How does that even work...?
I thought being evil was about doing, like, evil things?
wraith@lemmy.demanufacture.org · 1 pts · 88d
It's not about the 15 GB but there was a time where Gmail was new and fancy - and Google's slogan "Don't be evil" as a young and uprising company. As the market got saturated, the business model (or the direction) changed and it's not only Google, M$ also did reduce free space in OneDrive after many years some time ago.
"Don't be evil" was just the referral to this slogan and I don't care if it's 15 GB or 30 GB today as I choose to pay for the services these days instead of just relying on any free(mium) model.
8oow3291d@feddit.dk · 1 pts · 88d
I agree that Google removing "don't be evil" is bad. But mentioning that change in this context is a non sequitur.
sunbeam60@feddit.uk · 14 pts · 89d
Pay for webmail.
Be the product.
Choose the form of the destructor.
takeda@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 13 pts · 89d
Why not both? /s
We already see $1,500 TVs showing ads.
HexagonSun@lemmy.zip · 6 pts · 89d
I see a Ghostbusters quote, I upvote
captchacrunch@piefed.social · 13 pts · 90d
Are there good services to intake all of my Google takeout data, or do I just collect it and wait
asdfasdfasdf@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 90d
Ente Photos is pretty good
feannag@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 89d
I'm addition to other recommendations, Immich is phenomenal for photos. What other data do you need to intake?
captchacrunch@piefed.social · 1 pts · 89d
Imaginary_Stand4909@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 88d
Ente and Immich are great for photos, although Immich is meant to be self-hosted (not sure about Ente). I use mailbox.org + Thunderbird email client and both support pgp encryption for emails, it's awesome and only cost 12€ a year for the light plan (2G). People like Tuta but it doesn't support 3rd party mail clients like Thunderbird. Maybe Proton mail.
I have a drive bay attached to my network that I've been using as my "GDrive" but I need to do an actual off-site backup location... You can self host Nextcloud for storage. I think I'll use backblaze as a backup for my immich photos, all the other shit means nothing to me if it blows up cause I'll just redownload it. You could also just encrypt your files with Cryptomator and then upload the encrypted files to Gdrive.
NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip · 13 pts · 90d
I still have my gmail account from 2004 or so. I never delete anything, and it is where all the garbage mail goes, although I use it occasionally for purchases and other things.
So 22 years of email, never deleting anything, and I am well under 5gb.
kungen@feddit.nu · 2 pts · 89d
You're lucky enough to have a non-common email address then and/or unsubscribe from tons of stuff? Mine is a common first name + 2 digits, and I've hit the limit a couple times.
NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 89d
i dont think i ever unsubscribe on that account, I don't pay much attention to it. common name? No not really so nobody is guess spamming it I suppose.
I think i have a ton of emails from places the no longer exist! I outlasted them!
woelkchen@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 90d
Anyone old enough to remember that Gmail launched with "unlimited" storage?
NoSpotOfGround@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 90d
IIRC, they launched with 1GB (which was ridiculously much for the time) and later only had "unlimited" in the sense of "continuously slowly increasing". Until they reached 15GB and never budged from there again.
VinegarChunks@lemmus.org · 4 pts · 90d
The 1GB Gmail storage was initially announced on April Fool’s Day and it was quite the topic of discussion whether it was real or not.
A year or two later they upped it to 2GB and also announced this on April 1
NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip · 6 pts · 90d
They never did. You are thinking of photos.
But I do remember thinking 1gb and it growing over time was worth implementing GmailFS and using a free gmail account as a "get to it anywhere" file system I could mount on Linux.
SCmSTR@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 10 pts · 89d
I blame Microslop
DylanMc6@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 10 pts · 89d
Is Proton okay?
manuremy@sopuli.xyz · 14 pts · 89d
Yes, unless you read into the missinfo campaings. They will follow your local laws, but you can control how much info they have on you.
kepix@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 88d
as long as you pay them
01189998819991197253@infosec.pub · 10 pts · 89d
iCloud accounts are 5GB if you a phone number. You don't get to create an account if you don't add a number.
I'm not defending this move. It's on the same level as them yanking their free lifetime unlimited storage on ONE accounts. But I also get it.
neclimdul@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 89d
"improve security"
isn't basically common knowledge at this point phone recovery methods decrease security? How do companies keep getting away with this.
Flatfire@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 89d
It depends entirely on the implementation. Is it genuinely a "second factor"? Or are they just going to let you use one or the other? Because MFA is a real benefit to account security, even if SMS is the weakest version of it.
anon_8675309@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 89d
New users.
Even still, I moved off Gmail years ago. I keep my Google fingerprint minimal.
ony@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 89d
rmrf@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 88d
When have they been wrong?
deathbird@mander.xyz · 7 pts · 89d
I would prefer they didn't do this, but I understand. Storage isn't without cost. 5 GB is a lot for email actually. It's probably intended to reduce abuse from bots. We should probably not be using free email anyway.
ilinamorato@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 89d
Storage is incredibly cheap, though. If Google used S3, the cost for a 15GB account would be pennies a year, and since they host their own architecture it can be orders of magnitude less. This isn't about recouping costs. This is just about shaking users down for more subscription money.
Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 89d
It's about tying phone numbers to accounts.
ilinamorato@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 89d
If it were, they wouldn't tie it to storage space. That doesn't matter to scammers and spammers; they'd require it for sending to more than x recipients per month, or for API access, or for any number of other things. The one thing spammers and scammers don't need is storage space. They just need a trusted email gateway and IP address.
Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 89d
New Gmail accounts still get 15GB if they provide a phone number. So it's specifically about that.
WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 88d
They are gathering as much info as possible for Mossad, to block all escape routes, and methods of fighting back for the majority of the world.
It will make exterminating us far easier.
ilinamorato@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 88d
That's the excuse. But phone numbers tied to names are available all over the dark web and the light web—that's a fundamentally worthless data point by now. They don't actually want that, they're just saying it so you think it's for scam prevention.
dantel@programming.dev · 1 pts · 89d
Have you heard about Android?
Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 89d
Yes. And?
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 4 pts · 89d
they need thier AI bucks somehow.
darkangelazuarl@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 89d
I purged all my email from google a while ago due to increasing privacy concerns.
sommerset@thelemmy.club · 3 pts · 89d
Yeah but problem is, android forces you to have A Google account.
d3lta19@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 89d
Graphene os solves this problem
A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 88d
Whats the fucking point if they only let you attach a 25mb or smaller file.
Sam_Bass@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 88d
wtf do they need a ph# for? theyve got your email and sms ids(same as ph#). a ph# just seems like a bit of sales pitch food
MrKoyun@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 89d
Time to create a bunch of throwaway gmail accounts!
WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today · 4 pts · 88d
I'm intentionaly letting it overfill
DylanMc6@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 89d
Gee, would've been a shame if Google's employees go on strike and would start their own company.
nickall@feddit.it · 2 pts · 88d
happy to selfhost immich
Dead_or_Alive@lemmy.world · -3 pts · 89d
America hasn’t been a democracy in a long time. What we vote for and the legislation that is passed are two different things.
Trump is probably the most explicit example of this. He ran on lowering prices, no wars and cheap energy. Yes you are an idiot if you believe him, but many did. What Trump is delivering is not what the people wanted. Many other politicians make the same empty promises or corporate propaganda gets the gullible in line to support what the elite want.
The populace gets angry and the other party takes power. But nothing changes and
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-echochambers-27074746
chunes@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 89d
That's cool and all but what does it have to do with the size of gmail storage?
skeezix@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 89d
Everything
llmbot@sh.itjust.works · -5 pts · 89d
NOOOO! im getting scammed out of my money. Im already paying $0/year and they have the AUDACITY to decrease my subscription benefits?????
CanIFishHere@lemmy.ca · -14 pts · 89d
sommerset@thelemmy.club · 12 pts · 89d
Nope. I'm not giving Google my phone
CanIFishHere@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 89d
Fair enough. I use my phone for 2FA, so they've had my number for quite a while now.
deathbird@mander.xyz · 1 pts · 89d
Don't be so casual about passing your phone number out. The correct response is "5 GB is plenty for email. It's probably just to reduce abuse from bots. What's the big deal?"
CanIFishHere@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 89d
They've had my phone number for 20 years. What's supposed to happen?
deathbird@mander.xyz · 1 pts · 88d
Nothing different from here on, but it's not like everyone needs it. Given it acts as a 2nd authentication factor for a lot of services, given that it can be part of an overall data profile for you that gets sold to scammers, it's worth not slinging out to everyone who asks.
Sure, what's done is done. My suggestion is just, when presented with the option, don't.
CanIFishHere@lemmy.ca · -1 pts · 88d
So nothing then.