4 ms·

I think the idea is to give your real email and phone number to real friends and family; then you use the relayed one with online services who might sell or los

I think the idea is to give your real email and phone number to real friends and family; then you use the relayed one with online services who might sell or lose the data. Then you could presumably ditch the related info after the spam gets to be too much? Or maybe you just do it to be more anonymous? It’s like the concept of a “burner phone” I think

jaclaz 4y ago
But - originally - you give a number (be it real or Mozilla or "burner") in order to be contacted by someone (and then somehow it was leaked to the robocallers). The moment you change or abandon the number (be it Mozilla or "burner") that someone won't be able to contact you anymore. But if you keep it, with the burner at least that someone will still be able to call you at the end of the month (when the the robocallers will have already eaten the 50 minutes allowed by Mozilla).
- mtlmtlmtlmtl 4y ago
  But if you can use a unique number per service, you now know which company is selling your PII and you could address that either by switching to a competitor or, depending on the legal specifics, sue/expose them.
  - jaclaz 4y ago
    From what I understand it is not "unlimited" numbers, just one, as said an "alias".
    - mtlmtlmtlmtl 4y ago
      That's a shame, it wasn't entirely clear from the article but I assumed it must be multiple numbers since it didn't seem to me like it would be all that useful otherwise.
  - ridgered4 4y ago
    Unfortunately this only gives you a single unchangeable mask number.
- im3w1l 4y ago
  It would kind of make sense if you could "open" the relay when you need to 2fa, and then you close it again after. With this usepattern you would only need one alias, that would be closed 99.9% of the time.
zikduruqe 4y ago
textnow.com is free and what I have been using for years.
- ranguna 4y ago
  To save some people a click, it's US only
barbazoo 4y ago
That's what I thought too but then I read about what is actually offered: > You only get one phone number mask at this time. Once you choose your phone number mask, you cannot change it later. That makes it impossible to use as a "burner" number.
pigeons 4y ago
So like google voice with less features?

jaclaz 4y ago

But - originally - you give a number (be it real or Mozilla or "burner") in order to be contacted by someone (and then somehow it was leaked to the robocallers). The moment you change or abandon the number (be it Mozilla or "burner") that someone won't be able to contact you anymore. But if you keep it, with the burner at least that someone will still be able to call you at the end of the month (when the the robocallers will have already eaten the 50 minutes allowed by Mozilla).

mtlmtlmtlmtl 4y ago
But if you can use a unique number per service, you now know which company is selling your PII and you could address that either by switching to a competitor or, depending on the legal specifics, sue/expose them.
- jaclaz 4y ago
  From what I understand it is not "unlimited" numbers, just one, as said an "alias".
  - mtlmtlmtlmtl 4y ago
    That's a shame, it wasn't entirely clear from the article but I assumed it must be multiple numbers since it didn't seem to me like it would be all that useful otherwise.
- ridgered4 4y ago
  Unfortunately this only gives you a single unchangeable mask number.
im3w1l 4y ago
It would kind of make sense if you could "open" the relay when you need to 2fa, and then you close it again after. With this usepattern you would only need one alias, that would be closed 99.9% of the time.

zikduruqe 4y ago

textnow.com is free and what I have been using for years.

ranguna 4y ago
To save some people a click, it's US only

barbazoo 4y ago

That's what I thought too but then I read about what is actually offered: > You only get one phone number mask at this time. Once you choose your phone number mask, you cannot change it later. That makes it impossible to use as a "burner" number.

pigeons 4y ago

So like google voice with less features?