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If you haven't logged into your Google account in over 2 years, it will be deleted

A sign is shown on a Google building at their campus in Mountain View, Calif., Sept. 24, 2019.
Jeff Chiu
/
AP
A sign is shown on a Google building at their campus in Mountain View, Calif., Sept. 24, 2019.

Google will delete accounts older than two years to help avoid security risks, the company announced Tuesday.

The tech giant said neglected accounts are more likely to use old or repeated passwords and less likely to have two-step authentication enabled and to do security checks on the account.

"Meaning, these accounts are often vulnerable, and once an account is compromised, it can be used for anything from identity theft to a vector for unwanted or even malicious content, like spam," said Ruth Kricheli, Google's vice president of product management.

Deleted accounts would wipe out data across Gmail, Google Drive and Docs, Google Photos, Google Calendar and YouTube.

The policy applies to personal Google accounts, not business or school-associated ones.

Google said it will send several notices to inactive accounts and to recovery emails associated with those accounts. The deletions will start in December at the earliest, and accounts that were created and never used again will be removed first, Kricheli said.

To keep an account active, a user simply has to log in. This includes logins to third-party websites and apps.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Ayana Archie
[Copyright 2024 NPR]

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

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