For me registering a Gmail Account from Firefox looks like this. That is because your IP has a good reputation. > Phone number is clearly marked as optional UPDATE: Location sharing is off by default. I am sure that most of users don't even realise that they've agreed to be under constant surveillance by Google. > To disable location tracking you need to notice a tiny button at terms of service page or find it at the settings. I learned this the hard way when my contacts did not sync from my old phone when I wanted them to. I think this only applies to new contacts created within your google account, and not local phone contacts. > And enabled sync for everything - including contacts. This sucks, but looking at the whole page in context, it's not nearly as bad as you made it sound. * It is true that the options are in a "more options" folded thing at the bottom of ~2 pages of text. * The "location history" option is off by default. I think average people can read it easily in 1-2 minutes. * The page you are referring to is not really boring legal text, it's pretty plain English that is easy to understand, and there's not a lot of it. * The only information requests that I think are unnecessary are date of birth (they say because some services are age restricted), and gender (which "rather not say" is an option for). (Of course, Facebook said the same thing, and look how that turned out.) * Phone number is clearly marked as optional and it says they use it for security. I think you are exaggerating quite a bit: I just went to create a google account to see for myself because this sounds egregiously bad. After all, it employs smartest people on the planet. I must admit, Google is good at sucking data out from people and deceiving them. To disable location tracking you need to notice a tiny button at terms of service page or find it at the settings. Google doesn't even give a warning, let alone asks you whether you really need it. Only then you will see that your data are being uploaded to Google. For example, to learn about sync, you have to go to Settings -> Accounts -> click word "Google". Luckily, I mostly use phone as a dictionary and it didn't have any personal information - but if it had, it would be irreversibly copied into the Google Cloud. And enabled sync for everything - including contacts. Also, Hangouts app added this new Google Account into the phone settings.
Of course, I turned all of them off and thought that I am smarter than a typical user that would not even see these checkboxes.įirst, the Hangouts app somehow added this newly created account into all other Google Apps, so Google Play (which I have never used before) has started itself up and said that I need to update several apps (no, I don't) and then Mail App said that I got an email (this boring kind of email they put into your inbox upon registration). But I noticed that there was a small button to show more details, and when I clicked it, the page expanded and I saw checkboxes (lot of them), most checked by default, like "share my location with Google" or "record web & app activity". Then the app displayed a terms of service page with boring legal text. One has to register a Google Account in order to use it, and I had to answer a lot of questions as if I was applying for a visa, including a phone number (of course I used a fake number) and date of birth.
Recently I had to install Hangouts app on the Android phone (it was easier than using it on desktop because I don't have the latest Chrome). I would make the advice more general: avoid dealing with Google.