this post was submitted on 08 Nov 2023
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Privacy
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Why are phone numbers a requirement anyway
To validate that a user is a person. The idea is to trust the phone companies that a person who happens to possess a phone number is actually a person.
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I never said it was a good solution. There is no way to trust any validation that a user on the Internet is a person. But this way is cheap easy and most people aren't gonna go through the effort of masking their identities.
Also one discrepancy in an audit of a phone number trusted user base sticks out enough for cops to make some progress.
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People are putting too much thought into this. It's discovery. Signal is a WhatsApp alternative. You switch from WhatsApp and want to know which of your contacts you can still talk to? No action necessary, you can do it right away.
Simple as.
Try doing that without a phone number.
I guess that's true, but I'd prefer the phone number part being optional. If you don't give it, you don't get access to the easy migration or discovery features, but you get to hide your phone number.
Edit: It's not that I don't trust them, either.
You need some sort of verification that the person is a person. Phone number puts a layer between you and the service you are trying to use - the provider of the number. The provider holds your identity but only passes on a phone number.
It's definitely not ideal, but not bad