
Websites requiring a phone number is bad business and potential discrimination - teslacar
Websites requiring a phone number is bad business and potential discrimination<p>Millions of Americans don&#x27;t have cell phones . Either they are too expensive or the are disabled or other reasons that prevents them for having a mobile phone . Cellphone service is very expensive ,requires decent credit and many poor and disabled people cannot afford it
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smt88
1) More than 92% of Americans have cell phones[1].

2) An SMS/MMS-enabled number is free from Google Voice.

3) Cell plans don't require credit (except possibly for the phone itself). You
can pre-pay.

4) This may be discrimination, but so is requiring an email address. The
question is whether it's illegal discrimination, and the answer is no. "Phone
type" is not a protected class, like race or religion, in the United States.
"Income level" is also not a protected class.

1\. [http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/08/26/chapter-1-always-on-
co...](http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/08/26/chapter-1-always-on-
connectivity/)

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dangrossman
> "Phone type" is not a protected class, like race or religion, in the United
> States. "Income level" is also not a protected class.

If discriminating on the basis of phone type or income level has a disparately
adverse affect on members of a protected class, then the policy is is illegal
discrimination.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disparate_impact](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disparate_impact)

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Mz
I am homeless and a homeless advocate. I agree with you. Email addresses can
be had for free and accessed for free via, for example, going to a public
library.

I am online all the fucking time, even when my tablet or laptop has died and I
don't yet have the means to replace it. Sometimes I have a phone. Sometimes, I
don't. I have yet to find a 100% free and reliable means to have a phone
number.

~~~
mattbgates
I met someone in my travels who is homeless by choice and living out of his
car. Basically does freelance work, charges up at Starbucks, which... "are all
his office", and does what he has to do. I met him in California.. he says he
doesn't mind and loves it because everyday is a visit to a new Starbucks in a
new city, hehe.

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Mz
If you get into the details, to some degree, many homeless people made a
choice. Some left an abusive situation. I left a corporate job that was
helping go keep me sick.

If I had other options, I would have made other choices. This isn't what I
wanted. It was just less objectionable than the alternatives. This is probably
true for most homeless people. They don't really want to be there, but given
the fabric of their lives, this was the least worst or most viable choice
available.

I would like to see better options available. I write about that.

I am trying to get off the street. I am aggravated with the whole thing. I
also do freelance work, usually at a library. Starbucks is a bit of a luxury
for me.

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tjalfi
80% of Americans below the federal poverty line have cellphones.
([http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-
jeffrey/census...](http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-
jeffrey/census-americans-poverty-typically-have-cell-phones-computers-tvs))

