i don't know if you guys read world news or not, but have you heard about the whole google and china ordeal? apparently china hacked google, google lost some information, and google is soon to be backing out of china; plus the whole censorship thing in china doesn't bold well with google either. i hope google tells china to go... well... you catch my drift...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100120/bs_nm/us_google_china_hackers

this story doesn't necissarily talk about the attack, but it talks about chinese hackers in general. if you got some spare time, it's worth a read.

I saw the news last week. I hope they don't leave China caus I need my gmail, and google translate is pretty handy.

But you know when you learn how easy it is to mask an IP, or use the IP of someone else, I'm quiet sceptical when I hear : attacked by China.

google is so evil that i can't trust their "we are against the chinese censorship" bullcrap.

That's just a money problem and it will be fixed by money

Guys.

You'll still be able to access google.

Only google.cn is disappearing.

Hey something fun about Google. Try to type in pictures category "tankman" and enjoy.

1 week ago if you tried that all the pictures of Tiananmen was censored but now you can easily see it.

bolomas wrote:

I saw the news last week. I hope they don't leave China caus I need my gmail, and google translate is pretty handy.

But you know when you learn how easy it is to mask an IP, or use the IP of someone else, I'm quiet sceptical when I hear : attacked by China.

As Hirna mentioned only google.cn might be gone. If you have a gmail.com account it will not affect you. so no worries

Google is the wrost kind of evil. It is the kind that looks good.

If you see microsoft naked in the shower with you, you will be very carefull not to drop the soap.

But, when google comes to your shower and goes "i'm your friend, i'm cool, trust me", then you are confident and let the soap drop, pick it up, and that's when the abuse starts...

rofl

deadanus wrote:

Google is the wrost kind of evil. It is the kind that looks good.

If you see microsoft naked in the shower with you, you will be very carefull not to drop the soap.

But, when google comes to your shower and goes "i'm your friend, i'm cool, trust me", then you are confident and let the soap drop, pick it up, and that's when the abuse starts...

hahahaha! dude... wtf?!

I use to love google, and their recent descent into darkness makes me sad.
Their policy is all about money, they have TOS that violates the basics internet users rights, they won't let you get a Gmail account without a mobile phone number......

EVIL

deadanus wrote:

they won't let you get a Gmail account without a mobile phone number......

you can't get a gmail account without a mobile phone number?
since when is that? I created a gmail.com account, in october 2009 and didn't have to give a mobile phone number to create it.

deadanus wrote:

Their policy is all about money

well, they are for sure not the only company

hey deadanus,

I have just created the following gmail.com account:

deadanus@gmail.com

PM me for the password and secret answer


All I had to do was to go to https://www.google.com/accounts/

then click on create account
1) enter first and last name
2) choose an email name
3) choose a password, reconfirm that password
4) choose a secret question and answer to it
5) choose your location, it does not have to be china
6) enter the security code
7) agree to the terms

and now you got your gmail.com account

No phone number checking? Cause last time that I created one they did ask me a phone number...

As mentioned above, I created one gmail.com account for me last october, and I just creatd one 20 minutes ago. The email address is realy deadanus@gmail.com, no joking.
In both cases I gave the US as location and I didn't have to enter any phonen number.
As written in my post above, I only had to enter the above mentioned information, no address, no phone number, not even an alternative e-mail, eventhough the alternative e-mail address is an option but not mandatory to create and use the account.

They might ask for a phone number, if you choose China as a location. I didnt try it out so not sure if that is the reason.
Also you get 3 welcome e-mails from gmail, one tells you, that you can read and write e-mails with your mobile phone. I assume that if you want to do that, that they might ask for your mobile phone number.

If you have any problems I am more than welcome to creat a gmail.com account for anyone who needs one and doesnt want to use their personal information.

If you create an account from an already existing account or if you provide a gmail as a verification mail, they will not ask for the mobile number.

If you invite someone through gmail, they will also not ask.

But, if you are a complete new user to gmail or google related service, the mobile phone number is mandatory.

You can see the screenshot here (choosing the country will not change the issue):



You can see in the official google website the FAQ stating that they want to verify via SMS:

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=114129

The FAQ states:

"If you're trying to sign up for a Google Account, you may be asked to provide a mobile number to verify your identity. We'll send you a verification code via SMS, so make sure the phone you use has text-messaging capabilities. If you don't have a mobile phone and are prompted to enter your phone number, you may want to ask a friend if you can use his or her number to receive a code."

About the "you may be asked", they don't clarify who is asked and who is not.

I am guessing it is IP based but no official statement.

Most website talking about the problem agree on the fact that it is a poorly disguise attempt to get a mobile phone numbers database for the marketing of their future mobile phone.

I have a Gmail account since a long time, but thanks a lot for the help

I just can't stand this type of hypocrisy from their company profile.

omg and it was true.. Man this and then what? You gonna shit on your comp shit-reader to login to your account? Total abuse. Finally you rather don't use soap at all....

bolomas wrote:

Finally you rather don't use soap at all....

that about sums it up mate.

bolomas wrote:

omg and it was true.. Man this and then what? You gonna shit on your comp shit-reader to login to your account? Total abuse. Finally you rather don't use soap at all....

I'm just sad that such a search engine could have dropped so low..

Toronto – The recent cyberespionage attacks on Google and that company’s subsequent announcement that it would reconsider its search engine services in China gripped the world’s focus and set off a debate about China’s aggressive cybersecurity strategy.


more on the story here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100128/cm_csm/276573