Yahoo mail blocked account.

For many years, I have always been fond of Yahoo! When they competed against hotmail and then against gmail, and to this day they never displeased me, however, I have email boxes of the big three.

And as time passes, on the part of those who offer the emails, new updates are always generated, extensions of capacities in a time, facilities, makeup modifications (topics, funds, etc...), interconnections, accessibility, messaging, etc... On the part of those who consume these services, at least some, over time we create new boxes, no matter what the motivation. And some we use more than others.

Unfortunately, I had problems with one of them, and it turned out that the responsibility (or irresponsibility) is from Yahoo and not mine, they have not given me any solution, and when I search the web, I find that there are many cases similar to mine, Without solution, and apparently, in the near future, there will not be, maybe never. And this has subtracted my trust placed in this global company of which I always felt comfortable, at least with the use of their email boxes.

The fact is that, at some point between the period of years between 1999 and 2002, create one of the boxes of Yahoo Mail. At that time, there were not many "protections" against forgetting or losing the password. They only asked for the password and nothing else. Then, over time, the "protections" appeared, the secret question, the second secret question, the two-step verification, the alternative electronic mail, the association with a cell phone, the codes, etc... in short, an extensive compendium of " protections "of the email. As they added one, they implemented it from now on. Sometimes, they asked for old boxes, sometimes not.

As they added one, they implemented it from now on. Sometimes, they asked for old boxes, sometimes not.

It turns out that, since several months ago, in the last year, I try to enter one of these old boxes, and I get a message, in which they tell me to have noticed unusual activity in my account. What unusual activity? Nothing unusual, in fact, the mail did not even use it among the principals, it received some newsletters and nothing else. Nor does it say that it is an unusual activity, I imagine that they should have a catalog (if they have one) and for each case, be able to point out to each one what unusual activity corresponds to them. In reality, they must have everything automated and under that abstract concept they must include anything that seems unusual to them, whether or not it is.

And in that same message, they tell you the following: "For safety reasons, choose a method from the following to verify that in fact you are the one who tries to enter this account"

Of course, the methods they offer are actually the method, a single method, which I was asked to establish at some point there no less than 15 years ago. And it is the method of secret questions. But how can I possibly remember two easy answers that I never had to use in 15 years? It is impossible for me. And assuming you have written down a paper or notebook, it could have been lost or misplaced with total ease over the course of 15 years.

The second step that Yahoo Mail requires is to prove that I am not a robot. Then there is a sign with the message "Prove you are not a robot" and it gives you to make a captcha.

Of course the account is mine, it might not be, but in this case it is mine, and how do I know? Because I have the password. And it is the last password and used in all the income that was possible until a few months ago. Given that if I had placed a password that is not correct, I would never have accessed the second step, that is, it detects the error, and does not allow to continue. It is true that I could have obtained a password and try to enter another person's account, but it is the same account that I was always entering, and for years, from the same machine, and the same browser, and the same location, and perhaps they do not record it? Do not they have an income history? Yes they do, but they are not interested in using it, checking it, controlling it, etc...

And if it were a robot, how could I have obtained my password? Does the robot have enough artificial intelligence to get my password and also use it? What if the robot got my password as it did? Will it have been in Yahoo's massive data loss in 2014? But, according to Yahoo Mail, the robots can not with the infallible captcha, while I can, so in this way I show Yahoo Mail that I am not a robot. A little ridiculous, no?

Once the captcha is over, the secret questions are answered. There are two, there are times when they first ask for one and other times that they first ask for the other. They give a series of opportunities, I think there are five attempts. After the failures, the Oh Oh !.

What crap! In all senses a crap. The Oh oh !. It means that access is blocked, account suspended. First, they give you the questions to answer, there are times that first the No. 1 and other times that first the No. 2. Second, there are times that you accept an answer (as if it were correct) and they make you move on to the other question until they fail. Third, the few times that they accept an answer as correct, at other times they give it as failed, but who is failing here? If the answer is correct, it should always be correct, not just a few times. Fourth, it indicates that "log in" but the login is blocked !, however it says to log in from the device I use most frequently, and the one I'm using is the one I use most often! But they do not care much, I have also used three different browsers and the same thing happens in all of them. Fifth, at the top it says "Get the application", I thought that given the massive emergence of smart cell phones, maybe that's what it was, so I tried it, went to the cell phone, downloaded and installed the application, I tried, and Oh oh!. The same, blocked income. Right there, I uninstalled it.

A disappointment after many years of use, and without problems in other emails, the only thing that they achieve is that they look for alternatives, that they are gradually leaving them aside, that they do not recommend them, and if that is what they were looking for, perfect, they get of ten. But I think not, I think that this excessive emphasis on security, supposed security that provide, that is, what they show as super-safe and interested in the security of users, what they seek is to build trust. Something that I rather see as a cover for his own mistakes.

In other cases, when I use old accounts, I get the following message, which says "make sure you protect your account, change the password and add mobile number"

Yahoo Mail does not know that in Argentina there is a very high rate of crimes based on cell phone theft, which is common currency that your cell phone is stolen, in extreme cases they ended up killing people by a cell phone, as if adding a phone number, one will find greater security in the account, or is that the meaning sought is another? Due to the massive use, the easiest one to everybody with advertising of what these companies live? Anyway, it does not matter, what is striking, is when they say "Your account may be at risk", regardless that if you want to accept the risk under your responsibility, Yahoo Mail does not interest you, since it necessarily makes you change your password and add phone, risk, for users, the biggest risk comes from themselves, suffice it to remember the massive data leak of 2014, data stolen by hacker that Yahoo announced 2 years! then, in 2016, but that same 2016, towards the end of that year, a new leak, another 1000 million more lost accounts with user data, from a year before, for 2015 is announced in the media that Yahoo scans the emails and if certain patterns of chains are given to American government security offices, and for ten years before this, for 2005, Yahoo had already blocked the use of certain words in their user accounts. Despite all this, many people (including myself) continue to use it, and now come out with this unheard of account blockade, meaningless, it seems that the most against their users is Yahoo itself, want to show as they are interested security, and what they do is harm legitimate users, who without doing anything wrong, and having used for years the same account, it turns out that they block me in pursuit of a supposed security they claim to offer.First with the shortcomings of information thefts, and then with the blockages to individual accounts that they consider to have detected "unusual activity", a real crap, that if we talk about "usual activity" and we reference it with the rest Of the companies that offer free email boxes, the "usual" for Yahoo is the theft of information by hackers, you should rethink this.Maybe it's time to look for other free emails that offer healthier alternatives, it will be something to get used to, it's a shame for the amount of information stored or conserved in these boxes, or what would be better, that they rethink the way they are dedicated to the users. If they are going to offer security in the email accounts, that is genuine security and not only circus after manifest insecurities from their own company.