- cross-posted to:
- degoogle@lemmy.ml
- cross-posted to:
- degoogle@lemmy.ml
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Imagine how much of Earth’s storage space is marketing emails that no one reads.
Anyone else remember when Google bragged about never being worried about storage as you watched your storage free count, grow and grow and grow.
Remember Dont Be Evil???
Rotfl
I wonder if every phone has a Mossad style detonation trigger hidden inside, and if it is rigged to blow at a certain time.
I remember. I’m also paying Google $2 a month for 100gb. Fucking bastards. But can you point me to 100GB for less?
You’re going to have a hard time beating $2/mo unless you roll it into something else like blackblaze ($100/year for unlimited storage), Microsoft office 365 ($100/year with 1 TB of OneDrive), etc. If your space is going to photos, the speed and responsiveness of Google photos far outpaces some of the alternatives (cough cough OneDrive).
Self hosting is a viable alternative if you’re interested in having more control/local storage or if you are interested in this kind of thing and want to do it/dabble in it as a hobby.
I personally built a NAS, which will take far too long to amortize vs just paying $2/mo. I chose this route because I value a local backup and because a NAS can a bit of a lifestyle product. “It can double as a server!”. Sounds fun, but I would want to build the thing I host which will also take time so… You could potentially build a NAS that will average out to $2 or less a month if you have spare parts or score some used parts cheap. Odds are that route could also be used for self hosting.
Microslop OneDrive wants $20/m for 1T. However you slice it, we pay for them to back stuff up on a cloud that we used to just back up on our own physical storage. This also gives them access to all our info/pics etc to scan for their AI bots.
they went from that to datamining your emails and your google storage, now they invested so much into AI, they want sell even more services.
50372364.45 GB and growing. It will always be free.
What have you GOT in there, damn
If you did the annual security ‘check-up’ you got an extra 2GB (maybe it was just 1GB and I did it a couple of years).
I mean, OneDrive did the same, except their tactic was just to delete your files instead of store them, instead of increasing it…
“You have 15 GB of space as long as you’re not using it all”
“You used 80% of your free 15GB, upgrade for more storage. Only $9.99/mo… I mean 5.99/month.”
“Wait it’s $0.36/month for 3 months.”
“No email for you cause you used all 15G. Pay up.”
Paraphrase from tactics that they are trying for me to sign up. Heck never.
THATS THE ONLY REASON PEOPLE STILL USE GMAIL! Proton Mail has 1 free gb, I didn’t use it when I had the free plan.
Unfortunately not, the main reason the majority of people use gmail is that they don’t even know there are other email providers.
- Google is reportedly testing a 5GB storage limit for new Gmail accounts, down from the standard 15GB.
- Users can “unlock” the full 15GB of free storage by adding a phone number to their account.
Seems they’re trying to get phone numbers this way. Maybe it’s for increased user data, maybe it’s to prevent fraudulent activity, maybe it’s to have more information to give authorities.
phone numbers were already an almost mandatory addition to new Google accounts. You need to set up 2FA when you make a new account, and the option to use an authenticator app is so well hidden… meanwhile Google still wants your phone number “to authenticate you”, even though it’s less secure than storing your password on a post it on your phone.
I work with homeless people and I discovered you can no longer make email without a cell phone with any major provider. I can’t get them into their social security without an email.
I was able to find an email provider that didn’t require a cell phone, but then you had to use a cell phone to get past the verification on the social security site. You are absolutely fucked without a cell phone now.
Thats really twisted. They really want to make not owning a cell spy a crime. Every time I learn something new about Surveillance it makes me more anarchist.
The problem is that it isn’t an intentional design decision. It just happens to be the easiest way to add a “cost” to sign-up.
I wouldn’t assume stupid is by design. Malice intent can be professional at hiding in plain sight. Just because its the easiest route doesn’t mean it can’t also be intended for shady reasons. Kind of like how designers forget how to add wheelchair paths for Libraries.
The GUI of both of those sites are nearly identical. Are they the same service?
apparently they both will delete your account after 6 months of inactivity. i had mail.com accounts since mid 2000s, and they have deleted quite a few of mines after they made that change(from permanent email before 2020,inactivity to every 6 months), just be warned if you dont use or login, your accts get deleted, they wont help you after that.
They are both owned by United Internet.
Thank you.
i have mail.com, i found that in mid 2000s, before 2021, they use to never delete your account if you dint use it for a while, but now its every 6 months if you dont have activity the account will be deleted. i was initially using that for resume, just a warning if you intend to keep an address and use it once in a while. i had to move some of my stuff back to google around that same time they made changes.
Proton mail doesn’t require a phone number
Proton doesn’t work with social security website unfortunately. I ended up using Tuta mail but then later got stuck on Login.gov because it required either a cell phone to verify by taking pictures of ID or a desktop with a camera for a video call.
Needless to say this is not something someone with no computer skills can accomplish. What is even worse is the local social security office stopped taking walk-ins. The solution? You guessed it, use the social security site to login and request an appointment…
Can you elaborate on the social security thing? I have lived most of my life outside the States and hope to never need SS, but, well, best to know what’s going on just in case.
Apparently they cut a bunch of staff and many offices are by appointment only now. So basically you need to account for this if you are going to file.
Most of the troubles I have had are helping people whom are not technologically savvy and they sometimes don’t have a cell phone. Not having a cell phone makes the process extremely difficult because apparently it is just taken for granted that everyone has one nowadays.
You don’t need to worry until you are probably 62 which would be early retirement for you. You full retirement would be 67 which just means you get a higher benefit the longer you wait. When the time comes you can always reach out to Social Security and they will explain the process.
Thank you for the explanation.
In order to sign up at the SS website on my laptop so I could get an updated statement, I had to use my phone to take pictures of my ID and myself. It kept failing/dropping. It was a giant PIA. Finally got it to work but I had to attempt a couple different days. I don’t know how someone who has no experience with a smart phone and laptop or tablet manages. I think I heard that about 25% SS employees were DOGE’d as well as many field offices closed and it can be incredibly difficult to get an appointment (some are just not staffed), especially if you reside in a rural county. I have to help my husband get signed up on the website and I dread it. He has a very thin frustration threshold with tech he can’t get to work. I foresee his phone flying across the room.
The way they’re going they’ll have increased social instability
Damn it’s like they don’t want the system working at all, that’s so convoluted and unnecessary
I tried to make a second account recently, and it wanted me to scan a qr code with my phone that then wanted to send me a text message. At the same time they were saying “this won’t associate your phone with the account.” I don’t believe that.
believe nothing any company claims… assume whatever they claim is a lie, and they are about to defraud you because we’ll… that’s all they know how to do… illegal activities, mislead, fraud…
To be generous, this could just be anti-botting. It sucks that bots suck up so many resources, and make things that could be free not free just to try to stop them. When you can have bots create thousands of accounts trivially, it makes sense that they need to provide some kind of identifier.
i assuming you refering to google accounts/bots. Bots on other social media would make tons of google accounts at once so they can spam on those sites, i was in a forum where they all make hordes of google accounts so they “are trusted by reddit” that they wont get filtered out and banned immediately by reddit.
all that effort to post on redshit
How are you creating google account without phone number
I haven’t made one in years. When I made my account it was back when you needed an invitation.
Exactly. I’ve been down this path, countless times, you can’t. I ended up using mailsac.com for temp emails instead.
This sounds like Google is offering 5free gigabytes to temporary accounts, something that couldn’t be done before.
Kinda fair. Stops botnets just stealing server space.
I’m intentionaly letting it overfill
Thank you Google for TURNING INTO FUCKING APPLE RIGHT AFTER I SWITCH TO A FUCKING PIXEL
GrapheneOS is built for Google devices. Doesn’t really solve the email problem though.
De-googling your life solves the email problem.
Aren’t Google breaking that though?
They wish. They’re adding friction to a few sites, but they can’t force literally the whole world to use gmail…right?
Lmao I’m in the same boat
You own a Google phone, and somehow think they don’t already have your number?
Remember the 1GB Gmail reaction? I remember:
Damn, this image can now drink alcohol in the US.
I sincerely and earnestly want Google to fail and cease to exist.
Can you please hope I never win the lottery?
Except for YouTube. Spin that off first.
Probably not the place for it, but I’d be good with YouTube dying. And I’m someone who pays for YT Premium (gasp!).
Something will take it’s place, something better. I think about what it would take to scale to YT’s size from an infrastructure standpoint and the only thing close, I think, are porn sites.
How great would it be to have HubHomez by PornHub as a YT alternative. Need to work on the branding a bit but I don’t care about the platform. I’ll follow the creators to StreamyFling, a collaboration of xHamster and xvideos. Same infrastructure, different content.
C’mon porn sites. Do it. Do it.
Update: May 15, 2026 (2:57 AM ET): Google has now confirmed this test in a statement to us while giving more details regarding the feature
Next up: too many people are exporting their data at once, so now exporting your data costs extra.
Pretty sure that’d be illegal under GDPR.
Only if enforced.
happy to selfhost immich
Whats the fucking point if they only let you attach a 25mb or smaller file.
The market is saturated and “don’t be evil” was a long, long time ago…
New users.
Even still, I moved off Gmail years ago. I keep my Google fingerprint minimal.
Pay for webmail.
Be the product.
Choose the form of the destructor.
I see a Ghostbusters quote, I upvote
