I use GrapheneOS ony phone and a Mac with the security options as optimized as possible. For most of my emailing etc, I use Tuta and Proton. There are instances however, where having a Google account is beneficial (some apps for example won’t download from Aurora store in anonymous mode).
Is it advisable/possible to create a dummy Google account with minimal ID/credentials? And if so, what are some best practices for doing so?
Or, do I resign myself to the fact that with more control over my data, I have to sacrifice more?
Maybe I’m wrong but if I recall don’t you need a phone number and such for a google account which is an identifier?
Possibly, but other than that there aren’t any real verification steps when entering info to create an account (you can just add bogus info).
If there is a phone number required, I have used burner numbers in the past which may work.
Last time I opened a new Google account ~2019 I noticed if you did it from some countries it didn’t ask for a phone number (even on a vpn). I remember Greece and Romania being two of them. It’s been a while since then but it’s worth a try. But you also had to receive an email within a few a hours otherwise it asked for a verification. This was all through trial and error so take it with a grain of salt of course.
I created a google account last month, using a new chromebook hooked up to wifi. It let me create the account without a phone number, let me install software etc. Then when I rebooted, it demanded a phone number because of “suspicious traffic”. (wtf?)