I recently wasn’t able to recover an old account because I did not have access to my 2FA number and their help site suggested I “contact the phone company to recover the number, then try again.”
I had to do the same exact thing for another service but they did allow me to change the number by providing some information like last transaction, ID, selfie with statement.
I tried to find a pay as you go sim where the number doesn't expire and I would use that exclusively for 2FA but such a sim does not exist in the UK, most expire after 3 months the longest is 6 months.
Now I know this is an issue but it doesn't seem like there is anything I can do to solve it.
I wonder if used with a smartphone (mine is in a dumb Nokia) whether you can automated a SMS send or outgoing call once every month or something?
The GDPR's Right to Data Portability means that a company is obligated to give you access to your personal data - they are within their right not to have you as a customer anymore, but they must give you at least a copy of whatever data they already have.
Of course, you'll probably have to jump some hoops to prove that you are you, but IMHO that's a reasonable compromise.
But how can I prove I own my email if I don't have the credentials / Google won't let me log in?
https://7c0h.com/blog/new/lost_gmail_ii.html
In short, you can send their Data Protection Office a letter demanding access to your data. In my case it took almost three months but they eventually relented and reset my password. I guess a lawyer could have gotten it done faster, but who knows.
Assuming it's the latter: given enough evidence that you are you (same name as the recipient, deep knowledge of the account, knowledge of the password, etc), any court would rule in your favor and force Google to turn over the account. But I would be willing to bet that, assuming you are no one "special", they would relent much earlier in the process - the cost of the lawyers alone would probably outweight whatever profit they obtain from you, and GDPR fines can be high.
You can't create regulation requiring anyone or anything be competent and responsible.
If you entrust your livelihood to a company that cannot be trusted, that's on you.
The 'free' era of the internet has been enabled by excessive liability shields granted to shareholders that are collectively worth trillions of dollars, and those riches have been built around callous disregard for the property and rights of billions of people worldwide.
That being said, with Gmail, you get what you pay for. With Google's paid for hosted email, you don't get what you pay for either. It's not a good provider if you ever have any issues with it that cannot be solved by their automated processes.
«A malpractice lawsuit? You silly goose!»