That’s why I don’t have a phone… We don’t get service here on my own personal island!
Seriously, it’s not being “paranoid” - I’m trying to stay “informed”.
If Google was indeed storing every Tele # I ever entered - which hopefully I won’t have to do after this - it would concern me.
Because I don’t like people keeping tabs on my every move. (It’s bad enough my credit card company knows everything I do…)
But I’m asking about if they permanently tie that “unlock Tele #” to your Gmail account for life in the background. (I would say that it is stored in a database forever…)
Yeah, but in the standard recovery screens, I don’t see where a phone number is REQUIRED. I see the choice to select it IF YOU’VE ALREADY SET IT UP to send the recovery code. But at no time do I see where one is REQUIRED.
Google will not call you or anything. Once you give them a number, you’ll have to verify it by putting the code that they will send you on your phone. It is done by either text or call, but it is up to you. The call would be like, “Your verification code is 00000, goodbye” and that’s it.
Adding a phone number secures your account. You don’t need to add your phone number, just add any phone number, like, of a friend or family member.
I do agree that it seemed shockingly invasive to me the first time Google (and later on, Facebook) asked me for my cell number. Not something I was used to as an old-time Internet user (back in my day, before social networks…). I doubt anyone’s going to be showing up at my door to kidnap me, but still bothersome, and I do agree that the logic of it makes little sense.
