Google is turning evil

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It was around three weeks ago. I filled in all the relevant forms, solved the captcha etc and as the final step it said I needed to specify a mobile phone number for a confirmation code SMS to be sent to. I tried to skip the step but it wouldn't allow it. I tried putting in a fake phone number but it said the number wasn't valid. I made up another number of the required format then the next window asked me to enter the code that had been sent to the number. I abandoned Yahoo registration at that point. I've since started to phase out my other Yahoo email addresses, I've not been very happy with the quality of their service for some time - their webmail is overbloated and slow and they try to make a social network based on the people I've corresponded with via email. I also access Yahoo email via POP3 and there is a high download failure rate due to their servers being down or otherwise not working - another day and they work fine again, the following day down again. Yahoo has become a rubbish and erratic service I want nothing more to do with. Giving your mobile phone number (or landline number) is a good piece of information that allows companies like Yahoo to unify your details along with your address and goodness knows what else if they share data with the telecoms company.

Facebook? Idk.

And then sent Google Streetview cars out to suck up information from people's private wireless networks.

My heart goes out to the transgender woman driven to suicide after being outed by Google, as cited by the OP.

WiFi is in the 2.4 Ghz ISM band. That band is completely unlicensed - and free for *anyone* to use *for any reason*. That inherently means your wifi is not, in any way shape or form, "private".

It certainly doesn't inspire trust in Google, not that I've got any trust in them and the other corporate giants who routinely collect and use our personal information as currency.

I have a different identity and email address on each and every website, forum or other online presence. The collation of multiple identities and move towards forcing everyone to use real names is a very bad for everyone, except advertisers who can target sh** at us more accurately or anyone with malicious intentions / stalkers.

I'm a heterosexual male, but I don't want everyone in the world relating my real name to the fact I have Asperger's, cyclothymia and have previously attempted suicide - I don't want prospective employers, neighbours or other acquaintances knowing aspects of my private life. That is why I'm TallyMan on here not my real name. Similarly in my role as moderator I've banned some very nasty people from this site including self-professed psychopaths and I don't want them knowing who I am or where I live (that happened once to another mod and she was physically stalked and harassed).

I used to create a Yahoo email address for each new site I joined, but I see now that Yahoo requires a valid mobile phone number for account activation. Fu*k that! I am not giving away such information. So now I use throwaway email addresses to register on sites.

All the big internet companies are vying to collect our personal information and to use it in ways that do not reflect our interests, but theirs. Well f*ck them all I say. Sites that insist on my date of birth get pure fiction; the same with any other "required" fields.

Did Google Inc. violate any laws?

Okay, that is your opinion. Regardless it is a violation of US federal wiretap laws. Google was found guilty and apologized for it.

I've had a better experience with Yahoo! Japan, but Yahoo! Japan's services tend to be a quite bit different from the rest of the world's. For example, while there is the bloated Yahoo! Answers, in Japan Yahoo! has instead Chiebukuro (meaning "bag of wisdom"), which is a much less bloated website, and is completely different from Yahoo! Answers, despite providing the same type of service (being able to ask questions which are answered by other users).

Yahoo! Japan even still has GeoCities, which was shut down in the rest of the world!

It's not my opinion, it's a fact. And Google hasn't been found guilty of anything, they just had their legal opinion rejected by the 9th circuit - the lawsuits are still in progress. Get your facts straight.

Last September, the Ninth Circuit upheld the District Court's ruling after Google filed an appeal. This week's ruling reaffirms that opinion.

However, it also deletes a significant portion of the earlier ruling in which the court held that unencrypted communications sent from or received by an open Wi-Fi network was not generally accessible to the public. The court also granted a Google request for a rehearing of the case.