
Ask HN: What to do when websites ask for cell number to create login? - fosco
This is becoming more and more common and now The ssa is requiring it to access my account, how can I avoid giving it out?
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twunde
It's definitely worthwhile to understand why a site is asking for your phone
number. At the company I work at, we require a phone number because a lot of
our customer's don't have email addresses and/or have given us a bad email
such as no@email.com. We use it to contact customers in collections BEFORE the
bad things happen like shutting off your power. Some sites will use your phone
for two-factor auth although I doubt you're complaining about those sites.
Many SAAS companies will ask for your phone number so they can upsell you.

The good news is that there are some options if you don't want to give out
your phone number. 1) Give out a fake phone number such as 555-555-5555. This
works assuming you don't need to verify the phone number. 2) Sign up for a
google voice account and pick a phone number. You can get texts and receive
voice mail and read them through email or by going to google.com/voice

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duncanawoods
I'm finding existing sites I've used for a long time nagging _hard_ for my
number. I'm guessing that its used in their ad tracking which is why they are
damaging their user experience demanding it so furiously in order to squeeze
the green out my eyeballs.

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detaro
What use has your cellphone number for ad tracking?

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sharmi
Your cellphone number has the power to be 'the' unifying factor for different
profiles that you maintain online.

For example, I have multiple user ids in google for each of my businesses but
I give them all my same phone number for the purpose of recovery. Now gmail
does not have to do too much effort to equate the owner of all this accounts
to be one person.

Now assume, you give the same number to linked, facebook and google.

Now you no longer need complex machine learning algorithms to match your
profiles across platforms. The unified profile has all your commercial,
personal and career info in one place. Ad trackers will love that! If you use
the cell number in walmart etc, thats an added bonus.

More importantly: Most people will have multiple email accounts but rarely
more than one cell number. So it is much easier to identify the individual.

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bradknowles
Use "burner" to create a virtual phone number for just that site, and
configure it to forward wherever you want.

Done.

Same deal with credit cards -- use privacy.com.

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Esau
If it a website for a company I already do business with in some way, I don't
have a problem with it, but otherwise I close the browser window.

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jacquesm
Find a competitor. I only give my cell # to parties with a good reputation
that I _have_ to do business with.

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eecks
What about sites that require second auth with a mobile device?

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sotojuan
Google Voice?

