Fuck off. No it doesn’t. If I want my password to be “ABC” I should be allowed to do it. There should be a checkbox that says “I know what I’m doing and I accept the risks of a weak password.” Password leaks happen all the fucking time because the people who demand impossible to remember passwords with 32 characters don’t want to pay for proper protection for their own shit.
Then there’s the stupid bullshit that google has decided is now mandatory, “give us your phone number so we can send you a SMS to make sure its you.” Fuck that and fuck you, I ain’t giving my phone number to you, you probably have it already anyway, you nosy fucks. Some years ago I made a new Gmail account for Youtube use only. I didn’t input any private information into it, the first name is something like “ASfohigr” and last name is something similar. The account email address is literally “myyoutubeaccount42069.”
I recently changed from Ubuntu to Debian. After the install process, when I tried to log in to Youtube, it told me that I need to give them a phone number so they can confirm its me. How the fuck is that going to help? I never entered a phone number when I made the account, I could walk to the nearest kiosk, buy a prepaid sim card, punch that number in and it would let me log in. In what world does that confirm anything? How is that protecting my account?
There was a link below that said “click here for alternative methods” but when I clicked it, there wasn’t any. It just said “try logging in with the same device you used previously and using the same network you used last time.” Goddamn morons, it is the same device and it is the same network. The device hasn’t moved from its spot in months.
So because of Google’s weird obsession, I’m not using a Youtube account anymore. Instead I downloaded Freetube, it lets me make subscription lists without a account, it lets me remove shorts, it blocks ads, it has sponsor block built in, it doesn’t send google my data, it also works about 100 times faster than Youtube does. It hides the comments by default and because you don’t use a Youtube account with it, you can’t comment. The only downside is that you can’t support Professor Dave with his trolling of morons in the comments, he explains why he does it in this video. Its wonderful. Thanks Google for making me mad at you and your need to get my phone number!
Of course it would be ideal to change completely to something like PeerTube, but since that place is such a confusing mess and there’s like 7 people posting interesting videos, that’s not very viable at this point. I do use it and watch stuff from there but for me, there’s maybe an hour of content per week.
I understand if the bank needs to make sure its really you, I understand if your work related accounts need to make sure its you. I even understand that Google wants to prevent people from making spam or scam accounts to post spam or scam videos, or whatever. But surely that’s solved by letting people have viewer-only accounts that don’t need all this intrusive verifying? If I make a Youtube account, that I use to watch videos, what the hell is there, that needs so much protecting? Absolutely nothing. Its literally a list of channels I watch, why does it need all this “security?”
Well, the answer is obvious, its not about security at all. Its about getting data about you and me and then letting the governments know, “hey this guy is watching the wrong kind of stuff, go arrest him!”
click here to see if you can find something else that is equally unhelpful