Google claims phone numbers are optional when they are not

[web.git] / ralf / _posts / 2018-12-12-google-scholar.md

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+++ b/ralf/_posts/2018-12-12-google-scholar.md
@@ -21,9 +21,10 @@ Turns out I actually *have* a phone number that is public and that I am hence wi
 Seems like they insist on mobile numbers, and that is a piece of data I am not willing to share with the public or Google.
 
 Several people I spoke with were surprised to hear about Google enforcing the disclosure of phone numbers.
-I have now tried creating accounts several times, from different browsers and via different internet connections (mobile, work, home) and always got the same result.
+Google themselves say on their [help page](https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/1733224?hl=en) that submitting a phone number "is optional but highly recommended".
+That's a lie: I have now tried creating accounts several times, from different browsers and via different internet connections (mobile, work, home) and always got the same dialog asking me for a phone number, with no way to skip.
 I even tried a friend's computer who said he just recently created an account without having to give a phone number.
-I am not sure what kind of profiling Google is doing here, but I was never able to skip the phone validation step.
+I am not sure what kind of profiling Google is doing here, but they seem to have some kind of heuristics for whom they ask for a phone number and whom they don't.
 
 I am considering various options, including getting a cheap prepaid SIM card just for Google.
 All of this may sound somewhat paranoid, but the point I am trying to make is this: at some point we have crossed the barrier where having a Google account was optional.
@@ -34,7 +35,7 @@ This is not restricted to Google, of course: I have heard of lectures at my univ
 
 I think it is immoral to force people to create accounts in their private name and make them give away their private data.
 Creating an account with Google or Facebook is signing a contract (and one full of dubious data-sharing clauses at that), and I am not entering that contract out of my own free will.
-(This is very different from accounts I had when working for Mozilla, which were part of a contract between Mozilla and the third party and where I did not have to create an account as a private person. Also, Mozilla actually makes a point of negotiating reasonable data protection clauses for such cases, something I as an individual cannot hope to achieve.)
+Sure, I *could* refuse -- but at which cost?
 
 So, as one tiny of many necessary steps, can we avoid using Google Scholar for making hiring decisions?
 There are other platforms that perform citation analysis, for example [Semantic Scholar](https://www.semanticscholar.org/author/Ralf-Jung/16346001).