Ask HN: If I get locked out of everything, please try to help me

Re:Ask HN: If I get locked out of everything, please try to ... by DoreenMichele on Monday December 12, 2022 @09:46PM (#33964066)

Having spent nearly six years homeless and also had a college class from SFSU in Homelessness and Public Policy and having written about homelessness for years, I can assure you that for the vast majority of homeless people, losing their physical phone or being unable to pay for it is a much bigger problem than other people wanting to break into their accounts and steal their identity or some such.

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Re:Ask HN: If I get locked out of everything, please try to ... by katbyte on Monday December 12, 2022 @10:09PM (#33964250)

for the rest of us having a hacker gain access to our accounts and stealing money or scamming others is a far greater risk. And for google a far more common occurrence. There is a reason there are so many safeguards in place and its because hackers are trying all day every day to break in and steal identities and money.

Homeless people don't need to use 2fa if they are so unconcerned with someone stealing their account or identity. For the rest of us 2fa and making it hard to steal accounts is 100% a must.

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Re:Ask HN: If I get locked out of everything, please try to ... by Twisell on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @03:01AM (#33966036)

Were you so harsh on self-entrepreneurs that came here crying out loud because Google did shut down their developer account for some unrelated payement error on a linked account?

I hope so because otherwise you are just discriminating people based on their wealth. But praise lord dollar that if you ever fall from your status you won't find pedantic guys like you when seeking for help.

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Re:Ask HN: If I get locked out of everything, please try to ... by vineyardmike on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @03:53AM (#33966309)

To be fair to the commenter, the company implementing the system is to blame. I can understand why Google (or other businesses) would prioritize customers concerned about security over the homeless. One is a more profitable customer.

Does that make it right? No. Does that mean people won’t get hurt? No. Plenty of ink on HN has been spilt about how companies act according to a profit motive, and often not in societies best interest. Recognizing this doesn’t make you complicit.

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Re:Ask HN: If I get locked out of everything, please try to ... by soco on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @03:29AM (#33966167)

There's a recurrent thread of posters blaming everybody else for having issues with the big companies, because big companies cannot make mistakes otherwise they wouldn't be "big", right.

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Re:Ask HN: If I get locked out of everything, please try to ... by HPMOR on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @01:56AM (#33965679)

The issue though is 2FA is now required. That's literally the whole reason of this post.

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Re:Ask HN: If I get locked out of everything, please try to ... by katbyte on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @09:17AM (#33969151)

according to google you can turn it off: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/1064203?hl=en&co=...

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Re:Ask HN: If I get locked out of everything, please try to ... by Wowfunhappy on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @11:05AM (#33970693)

Kind of. The problem is that even when 2FA is disabled, Google's security panopticon will sometimes insist on additional verification anyway, even if you know your password, if it thinks something is suspicious.

If you don't have a verification method—or cannot access it—Google will literally just lock you out.

I have personally experienced this on accounts I don't access regularly.

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