| ▲ | HNisCIS 8 hours ago | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Will this finally get Signal to stop demanding phone numbers to register accounts? Lots of services you'd rather have an anonymous account with (Google, Meta, Discord) are partially/fully mandating phone numbers as a spam mitigation strategy. Also this paves the way to internet connections/mobile internet requiring ID | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ▲ | Cider9986 7 hours ago | parent [-] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Signal's requirement for phone numbers has allowed it to surge in popularity by allowing it to take advantage of people's already established contacts. They do this in a privacy respecting way[1]. Simultaneously, Signal is trying to raise the cost of accounts by requiring phone numbers. Although spammers can get mass amounts of phone numbers, it will at least raise the cost. Email 0 cents, phone # 10 cents–there will be less spammers with phone #s. I don't think we'd have to worry about the spam if people only used usernames instead of phone numbers, because it would be massively harder for spammers to find your account and message you. But, with usernames, you don't get the contact discovery that allows for growth. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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