4 ms·

Phone numbers are not private. The identifiers we use to connect to one another are not private. By design.

• rvz 6y ago
  Exactly. I completely detest how they use this as a way to 'securely verify' real users, but they argue that the only unique cryptic information everyone is likely to know is their phone number. So why not use that to verify? As you already pointed out there's a gigantic downside which is your privacy. I always keep hearing the occasional person that says that they are not on Facebook (for privacy reasons) but uses WhatsApp. I later congratulated them for signing up to Facebook and they also allowed WhatApp to upload their entire address book to find or search for anyone's number on Facebook who is not on WhatsApp! Wire, Signal, and Telegram do the same thing but are just as bad for privacy and are disqualified.
• triceratops 6y ago
  Phone numbers aren't private. Contact lists are, because they allow inferring relationships.
• samatman 6y ago
  Yes, that's true, and Joe Drug Dealer only gave me his number because we share an interest in exotic tropical fish... I swear. But I still don't want the entire world knowing that he's in my contact list.