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If you haven’t used your Google account for a long time, it’s important that you start using it again or you might lose it.
On Tuesday, Google announced that it will delete accounts that have been inactive for two years or longer. The company is doing this to prevent security risks.
This new policy is effective immediately, but Google will only begin deleting accounts in December. They will send multiple warning notifications to users before deleting inactive accounts, and the deletion process will be done in stages.
Google will first delete accounts that were created but never used.
This policy only applies to personal accounts, so organizations like schools and businesses are not affected.
Google says it decided to start deleting inactive accounts after research found that older accounts are more likely to have weak passwords and outdated security measures. This increases the chances of issues like phishing, hacking, and spam.
In 2020, Google announced it would remove users’ content from unused services, but the accounts would not be deleted. The new policy will go one step further and delete accounts.
To save your account, you only have to log in to your Google account or any Google service. You can simply read an email, watch a video, search for something, or complete any kind of activity.
Vocabulary
- Account – a user’s profile/page on social media or internet service; something used to access and participate in social media
- Lose – When you no longer have something you had before; can’t get back or find something you had
- Announce – share information openly; to tell the public; to make a statement; to report
- Delete – To remove or erase something completely
- Inactive – Not active or not doing anything
- Prevent – to stop; to keep from happening; to put an end to
- Security risk – something that is a potential threat or danger to the security or safety of a person, organization, or system
- Policy – a set of ideas or plans that is used for making decisions; guidelines; code; rules
- Effective immediately – Starting right away, without any delay
- Multiple – more than one; several; numerous; many; some
- Notification – A message or alert that informs you about something
- User – a person who uses something
- Deletion – The action of removing or getting rid of something
- Process – a procedure; a series of actions that you do to achieve a result/finish something; operation
- Stage – a section/part of a journey, race, competition or process; phase; step; level
- Apply to – To be relevant or have an effect on something or someone;
- Decide – to choose something; make a choice from many different options; select
- Research – the process of studying a subject to learn more about it and gain new understanding
- Find – realize; learn; discover;
- Outdated – old-fashioned; out of style; old; from the past
- Security measure – Actions, precautions or steps taken to protect against risks or threats
- Phishing – A fraudulent/illegal attempt to get sensitive/private information, like passwords or credit card details, by pretending to be trustworthy or a good person
- Hack – to break into or access someone’s computer/smartphone illegally, usually to steal something
- Spam – unwanted emails or messages sent to many people at one time; to send a lot of “fake” messages in a short time
- Content – information, images, video, etc. that are included as part of something like a website or social media account; material created by a person
- One step further – Going beyond or taking an additional action to achieve a goal
- Activity – Doing something or taking part in a particular action
Quiz
Discussion Questions
- What do you think about Google’s decision to delete inactive accounts? Do you think it is a necessary security measure or is Google trying to save money and resources?
- Do you think other companies should adopt similar policies to Google’s account deletion approach? Why or why not?
- Have you ever encountered security issues with your online accounts?
- How do you manage your online accounts to ensure they remain secure? Do you use any password managers or other security tools?
Original Story
- English teachers looking for teaching ideas, check out my post on using easy news articles for lessons.
- English learners looking for study ideas, check out my post on using news stories for English practice.
