Re: Gmail 'less secure app access'

> As others have said, 2FA is nothing more than an inconvenience
> ultimately. Google only wants you to use their apps to access your
> email. It really is time to look for an alternative (there are
> plenty). 
> 
> For what it's worth, since about 2002, I've had all my mail forwarded
> from a domain I own to an email provider. So when I decided to use
> Gmail as little as possible a few years ago, I simply changed the
> forwarding address at my domain registrar to the new email provider.
> I'm amazed so few people do this. 
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Simon

I don't mean to swerve off-topic too much, so if this is TL;DR for you,
no sweat, you may ignore (though I maintain ditching Google is part
of the solution here)...

Companies like Google and services like Gmail are like people with bad
boundary issues. What if the post office said, "In order to use our
service you must allow us to read all your mail letter by letter so we
can profile you and serve you ads."? That includes privileged,
confidential mail between attorneys, doctors, counselors, priests,
etc., and all your personal thoughts within, which become THEIR
PROPERTY.

When I discovered Gmail was scanning my messages I was irate and
couldn't believe anyone would continue using their service, at least if
they realized the full implications of their conditions. It didn't
matter that they were using for personalized ads (which I don't want
anyway). They were accessing my personal information against my wishes,
storing it in their server in a completely unaccountable way that I
could not opt out of or contest, and getting around it by forcing me to
agree to a legally binding contract by using their service.

But if you're in a hurry, don't know how Big Data works, and have your
skepticism module turned off, and you don't read it, assuming it's just
a harmless e-mail service, then you get suckered in. In reality, YOU
are THEIR product. You pay for their services with your privacy, and
they are also falsely advertising "free" e-mail because money is not
the only kind of cost; not to mention there are uncountable ways loss
of privacy can potentially cost you money and ultimately be far more
expensive than simply using a smaller competitor who charges a monthly
fee! The biggest corporations tend to exploit their customers the
worst. The Bank of Americas, The Amazons, The Googles, The Apples.

Such business models are absolutely diabolical and disgusting and I
hope enough people seriously wake up to literally starve such services
to death. We really must pay attention to who is running the services
we choose, their business model, their transparency features, and what
their agendas are, and accept there is such thing as predatory
corporations that of course, do not have our best interests in mind,
are not required to by any laws, and profit plenty from everyone who
either doesn't read the fine print or doesn't realize the
full implications of the fine print (that are not at all included in the
fine print!--requires digging around the web and talking to attorneys).

Thankfully there are lots of companies and movements raising awareness
to such issues and as Simon says there are plenty of alternatives by
now. There may be some inconviences but they are worth it, and
actually, over time, alternative services improve vastly, and you'll
find you won't miss the old monopolies at all, like me. I ditched
Windows 10 years ago, started using Linux which has had lots of
problems, but it has gotten so great by now it blows Windows out of the
water by far. It's also better than iOS/Apple. I'm in the process of
ditching Android, which is difficult, but over the years I've found the
solutions I needed to do so, and I'm getting there. It's definitely a
burden having to search for deeply for other solutions and
transitioning to them but I argue it's a necessity given what's at
stake.