Google bullying.

This can only be described as bullying:-

 'Account security changes coming: Add your mobile phone'

It's a threat from Google on Gmail login today.
It's followed by a barely disguised threat that knowing your password may not be sufficient to access your mail in the future.

The joke is of course that Google and many others already know my mobile number, it will have been harvested from email long ago, along with more data than I can remember about myself, my relatives and friends.

As yet, I have not had the misfortune to share a name with a mass murderer or ponzi scheme fraudster. Nor have I shared financial information with any but the most reputable organisations and their 'associates'. This does not mean that I have an unblemished record to be used as evidence of good character in the future.

When the day comes that my history of purchases from supermarkets is shared with health service providers, I will probably be assigned a below average score and dropped down a list of deserving priorities without even being consulted.

Using anything but cash to buy a bottle of Scotch for the old soldier across the street on a regular basis could be detrimental to your future health. Getting the points on a store card would be particularly daft.

So what of the need to hold my mobile number? The promise is that it will only be used for some verification of identity, implied that it will be associated with the Login procedure. As it happens, along with a lot of other people, i don't happen to be able to rattle off my mobile number because I never call it, so if I go back-packing and get all my stuff stolen when I'm asleep, I may not be able to login at an internet cafe and tell anybody what happened.

But that sort of thing is just what happens to real people in the real world, they're at the bottom of the list to worry about because they can't be reached by advertisers at that moment.