So Google (gmail, specifically since that’s all I have left with them) used to bother me a little bit. Once in a while they would sneakily try to get me to register my mobile number in connection with my Gmail account under the cover of ‘extra security’.
Hey, Wayne. Just enter your mobile number here and then you can recover your password and stuff if you lose it. – Mister Googal
Sounded good. I considered it briefly until I thought again about why Google should have my number associated with 4 quadrillion advertisers and the rest of my personal information that they have gradually sucked onto their servers over the last ten years (yes, I was an early gmailer).
I refused to give it to them for the last three years or so when the message would pop up from time to time.
Today, though, they changed their message. Now they said “Keep your account more secure! Know instantly if someone is messing around with your account!” It showed an image of some evil dude hacking your computer while your mobile displays an alert.
First of all, if evil dude hacks your gmail, now he’s got your mobile, too. But worse than the evil dude having your mobile, Google has it!
I’m not surprised that El Googoo wants it so bad, though. They aren’t even close to unintelligent. In fact, they are so good at what they do that it’s disturbing.
And for that reason alone I won’t hand over my mobile number.
In fact, all of this stuff has motivated me further to get ‘off the grid’. Thanks to a few friends, I’ve dusted off my ham radio and started using that. I’d like to see M. Gougou try to spam me there.
I’d also like to propose a challenge to everyone out there to un-google with me. I’ve started slowly but I’m making progress. I bet you can’t do it!
