Google is testing a frustrating restriction on a legacy feature

No more 15GB for new users unless they verify their phone number. | Image by sungusungu

There’ll still be a way to unlock the 15GB of free storage, but it involves providing a phone number for verification. This suggests Google is indeed trying to prevent ‘storage farming.’ 

Is this for everyone? 

Fortunately, not every user will be affected by this new policy. Google has explained that this is a regional test designed to help users enhance their account security and data recovery. 
It appears that, at least for now, the rollout is being limited to select regions in Africa.

At this stage, it remains a mystery whether the company will eventually extend these limitations to existing accounts as well. For now at least, they remain unaffected.

How safe is Google Drive? 

While removing a feature that has been accessible for over a decade, even if it’s only in select locations, is undeniably a drawback, Google Drive remains a popular way to store personal and work-related information.

Files uploaded to Drive are encrypted with AES256-bit encryption, so hacking into your personal files is quite challenging. Even though Google keeps the encryption keys, which means it can access files if necessary, this isn’t necessarily a drawback. 

For privacy-oriented users, Google storage may generally be considered unsafe, but for the most part, Drive storage is safe and reliable. 

It’ll be missed

I won’t lie: eliminating the 15GB of free storage unless you share your phone number sounds like a major downside. However, given that alternatives like Microsoft OneDrive also give you 5GB of free storage, this move isn’t actually all that out of line. Plus, I understand Google’s approach in this case. There are certainly a good number of users who create multiple accounts just to take advantage of the free storage option. And yet, if Google wants to limit that, why not address the problem differently?