It is more of an attempt to get real world IDs.

Yesterday I was forced to enter phone number for first time for "login verification". I didn't request any 2FA. They also made it clear they would save the number. Alternative was not logging in. Probably a A/B testing attempt.

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rkagerer 7 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It's stupid how phone numbers have become a proxy indicator for "is a distinct and legitimate human". Do they enforce this in all geographies or are there still places in the world where Internet is available but cellphones and phone numbers aren't common?

	▲	pndy 7 hours ago \| parent [-]
		It is stupid but today that makes sense in places where SIM card requires registration by full first and last name - which is majority of the world. You have to register SIM otherwise phone will be working with emergency services only. And that gives the possibility of identifying you by your phone number on whatever service, platform that asks you to provide phone number for security reasons. I really don't want to spread gloom here but last 15 years felt like stripping down anonymity by both law and social engineering. And now we're facing even more direct online verification under the classic pretense of "think of the children". The Wild West period of the Internet is over and what soon will arrive should concern us all.

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ChrisRR 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I think it's more likely that it's to limit people getting unlimited storage with multiple accounts by limiting it to 15gb per phone number

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ivell 6 hours ago | parent [-]

> Google has confirmed that it's testing a 5GB storage limit for some new Gmail users, unless they add their number.

If 5GB users don't have to enter phone, then I think they will not be able to stop unlimited usage anyway.

	▲	ChrisRR 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Yeah. They'll never be able to stop it, but I wouldn't be surprised if just adding a little extra roadblock makes a measurable difference in their storage costs

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luotuoshangdui 8 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

They forced me to enter a phone number many years ago.