hoovering up users' phone numbers for profit is so widespread because - everyone has a phone - most people rarely change their numbers (if ever) - many peopl

hoovering up users' phone numbers for profit is so widespread because - everyone has a phone - most people rarely change their numbers (if ever) - many people are more likely to give out their phone number than their social security number they couldn't care less about the security of your account or the fact that it's a valid number you control. they want the number that will uniquely identify you and already resides in the db of whichever adtech company bids the highest for your data.