Not trying to go to bat for Google here, but this smells to me like them trying to abide by Know Your Customer regulation.
I don't love it either, but "why doesn't Google just ignore that regulation?" doesn't seem viable. (Companies only ignore laws when it's profitable, of course.)
I don't love it either, but "why doesn't Google just ignore that regulation?" doesn't seem viable. (Companies only ignore laws when it's profitable, of course.)