No Google? This Reddit Thread Points Out Why You Should Avoid Google Logins

If you use your Google account to log in to any random platform or service, there is a thread on Reddit that recommends against doing that. With over 130 comments, this thread highlights how signing in to a service using a Google account exposes your personal information to data collection by advertisers and online marketing agencies, which harvest or sell the data as part of their business operations.

Privacy and data sharing concerns

“Don’t do it,” wrote a user three times in bold letters, kicking off a discussion in the r/privacy thread. According to the user, signing in with a Google account makes the sign-up process more convenient by automatically filling out forms with your name, email address, contact information, and other personal details. However, if the data is correct, it will be shared with more than just the service you are trying to log in to. According to the privacy policies of several platforms that offer Google plug-ins for log-ins, your data can be retained, stored, and even used for targeted advertisements.

Using Google to sign in can grant third-party websites access to your information if you casually give permissions during the login. However, a bigger concern is Google, which can use the login information to track your activity across different websites, building a detailed profile of your habits and preferences.

Is Google login really bad?

One user in the same discussion pointed out that since Google log-in is based on OpenID Connect, which defines the scopes of what data is shared with third parties, the data is anonymised. Third parties do not have access to all data categories by default, but they can ask users for more permissions during the login. “The third party site can request other scopes if they need more info-- for instance, the "email" scope to get your email address, and the "profile" scope to get your name and picture,” wrote a user who goes by ‘Coffee_Ops’.

Sure, Google logins summarise what data will be shared with third parties through a step that also asks for your permission to go ahead with the process. However, you cannot exclude every data category as most services list details such as email address, phone number, and, of course, the name as “necessary” for logging in.

Security risks

If your Google account is compromised or you lose access to it, you are likely to be logged out of all the services you have used it to log in. Additionally, if your Google account is linked to data on these services, the data may also be vulnerable to hacking. Websites you access using a Google login can also be subject to attacks and breaches.

Recommendations

The Reddit thread underscores ways to save personal information from being shared with third parties. For instance, you could use a burner Google account with fake or minimal information about yourself. “Why does your Google account use your real name in the first place. Nothing's stopping you from just giving Google a fake name,” wrote a user in the discussion.

In addition to that method, you can also try using unique logins by creating separate accounts with unique passwords for different sites for better control over data. You can also use password managers to create new credentials for you for each site and then store them.

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