Comment by o11c
3 months ago
If Google only does this when you tie your identity to a real-world ID, and refuses to auto-grant it for people whose accounts are more than 18 years old, then this is just a data heist.
For reference, 2007 is 18 years ago.
An 18 year old account doesn't necessarily pass the liability requirements legally.
Who would guarantee that the account has been used by the same person all those 18 years?
The same one who guarantees that it's really your ID: nobody.
A person using my ID needs to at least remotely look like me. A Google account is effectively a bearer token for anyone that can authenticate to Google, which is something that can easily be transferred.