Gmail or googlemail as it now seems to be known is clamping down on dodgy ips, of which Thailand has plenty, ie if you want to open a new googlemail account you do the sign up and everything, then on the last page you have to put your mobile number in so they can sms you the confirmation code for your account, pretty cool huhnope, google seems to becoming more invasive in its webtracking and everything, ie there web history which is basically everywhere you go is on by default each time so you need to turn that off if you don't want google swaying your searches or keeping records of your searches.
Will Google become George Orwells Big Brother?
Of course many of crimes on the internet ie the Nigerian phone scams, the 419 scams etc, they are all quite willing to give you a phone number anyway, so will googles decision change things for the scammers? I don't think so.
Or are they just trying to stop BOTs signing up for accounts and is it discrimination?