this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2026
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Hey everyone, can you please help me what to do- I don't have and don't use anything from Google. Now for school I am asked to provide Gmail. Is there way out ? What else, maybe some other email provider is compatible with school emailing system, because now teacher must use her personal email to email me and she is not happy at all...

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[–] hexagonwin@lemmy.today 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

google is very picky about this, but you can still create a google acc if using a "trusted" environment.

i had success on a relative's android phone (with preexisting google acc and valid usim) and school computer (windows chrome). they probably internally log ties to that machine being used to create acc, but at least it doesn't ask for phone number to auth and stuff. so, try using your school computer/tablet/etc for registration

[–] moldy_rice@piefed.keyboardvagabond.com 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

This is terrible advice. Don't do it.

[–] hexagonwin@lemmy.today 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

why? do you have a better alternative?

[–] moldy_rice@piefed.keyboardvagabond.com 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Because if google lets you create the account, it's only because they were able to link it to your identity. And then they will sell all of your data about you.

If you have a unique fingerprint but they can't link it to your identity, google will lock you out of your account and delete your data because you aren't giving them $$.

The former causes you harm. The later causes you harm.

[–] hexagonwin@lemmy.today 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

if google lets you create the account, it's only because they were able to link it to your identity

yes, they're linking it to the identity of the school machine, or the (many other) students/teachers in the school that used that computer

If you have a unique fingerprint but they can't link it to your identity, google will lock you out of your account and delete your data because you aren't giving them $$

not sure wdym, haven't experienced that personally. just create the google account on school machine once, setup gmail's mail forwarding feature to send mails to your burner email, which forwards them to your primary email, and never bother with the google account at all. if there's something necessary you can use the school computer again.

[–] moldy_rice@piefed.keyboardvagabond.com 0 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

If you use a shared IP (eg on a school machine) whose fingerprint isn't uniquely tied to your real world identity (name, birthday, etc), then they will flag it and demand a phone number or an image of a State issued ID so that they can link it to your identity.

If you don't provide this, they will lock you out of the account and delete your account.

Google isn't providing email for free. They need to be able to sell data about you to third parties. And if they can't link it to your identity when they sell that data, they'll delete it because you're not giving them enough $$ to offset the expense of your account hosting

If you managed to not have this happen to you with your other accounts, it's because they saw you login on another device that is uniquely fingerprinted and tied to your identity. Or they read your email and determined your real identity from the emails (eg amazon account purchases, address or name somewhere in an email)

[–] hexagonwin@lemmy.today 1 points 6 days ago

i've already said enough that there's at least some case where it works like i said, since i've had the exact usecase. i didn't get flagged, asked for phone number or got the account removed. i see no point in replying any further.

[–] Newhere@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Do you think library PC would be considered trusted environment?

[–] hexagonwin@lemmy.today 1 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

absolutely not. but you're only going to use the created account for your school things, no?

your teacher is also going to access their acc through the school network anyway, so there's no further breach that can occur from the school network being pwned.

edit: if you mean trusted by google it may be. at least was the case for me