Originally reported at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/empathy/+bug/754569

This bug affects version 2.34, though that does not seem to be an option in the 'Version' field.

Recently, Google introduced 2-Step Authentication[1] to make their users accounts more secure. This works by requesting that the user enter a randomly generated 6 digit number when they log in from an unknown computer for the first time. Since not every application supports this, they also introduced 'Application Specific Passwords' which is a randomly generated 16 character alpha-numeric one-time only password that it entered when connecting an application to a Google account for the first time.

Since I have enabled 2-Step Authentication on my account, I am no longer able to sign into Google Talk using Empathy.

[1] http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/advanced-sign-in-security-for-your.html