Google: Dark Patterns? Nope Maybe Clumsy Patterns?

May 5, 2022

Ah, the Google. Each day more interesting information about the business processes brightens my day. I just read a post by vort3 called “Google’s Most Ridiculous Trick to Force Users into Adding Phone Number.” The interesting segment of the post is the list of “things that are wrong” caught my attention. Here are several of the items:

You can’t generate app specific passwords if you don’t have 2FA enabled. That’s some artificial limitation made to force you into adding phone number to your account.

You can’t use authenticator app to enable 2FA. I have no idea why SMS which is the least secure way to send information is a primary method and authenticator app which can be set up by scanning QR from the screen without sending any information at all is «secondary» and can only be used after you give your phone number.

Nowhere in announcements or help pages or in the Google Account interface they tell you that you can’t generate app passwords if you don’t have 2FA. The button is just missing and you wouldn’t even know it should be there unless you search on the internet.

Nowhere they tell you the only way to enable 2FA is to link your account to your phone number or to your android/iphone device, the options are just not there.

Vort3 appears to not too Googley. Others chime into Vort3’s post. Some of the comments are quite negative; for example, JQPABC123 said:

The fastest way to convince me *not* to use a product is to attach a “Google” label to it. Nothing Google has to offer justifies the drawbacks.

Definitely a professional who might struggle in a Google business process interview. By this I mean, asking “What process?” is a downer.

The fix, according to CraftyGuy is, “Stop… using Google.”

The Beyond Search team thinks the Google is the cat’s pajamas because these are not Dark Patterns, they seem to be clumsy.

Stephen E Arnold, May 5, 2022

Comments

Comments are closed.

  • Archives

  • Recent Posts

  • Meta