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0 pointsSpringtime1y ago0 comments

An issue is for most sites/services an email has just become a standard authentication method, rather than something that can easily be more unique per account. So any usernames across sites/services that share it identify that user as being the same person (for data broker profiling, doxxing, etc), which is the privacy issue (not the email address per se, unless it perhaps contained one's real name).

For contrast truly unique email aliases for example aren't possible on common services like free Gmail*, only things like self-hosting/certain paid email hosts, which makes less feasible for many. So from a privacy perspective while in an ideal world everyone would be able to freely create entirely unique per-account creds we're mostly stuck with the email implementation.

* One could create entirely separate accounts but it's high friction and IIRC the same phone number (now a requirement) can only be used for 2-3 accounts.

0 comments

StressedDev1y ago

Proton Mail and iCloud’s hide my e-mail feature allow users to have unlimited e-mail addresses. You can also get unlimited e-mail addresses by running your own e-mail server or using something like Office 365’s business e-mail (costs about $4 per month).

bossyTeacher1y ago

is running your own e mail server a good idea in 2024? Security issues aside, you are at the mercy of the big email providers and whatever rules they want you to follow

kroltan1y ago

For e-mail addresses as an authentication tool, you don't really need to be able to send emails at all, just receive them, and I think that is pretty feasible to not run afoul of the usual shenanigans.

rrwo1y ago

I think the cost of paying for a dedicated email service is worth it. (There are plenty of smaller, privacy-oriented services such as Proton Mail or Fast Mail.)

They're better at it than I am, and it means I don't have to fill up my free time maintaining another server.

bsammon1y ago

> One could create entirely separate accounts but it's high friction and IIRC the

> same phone number (now a requirement) can only be used for 2-3 accounts.

I've wondered about this. Every Android/ChromeOS device I've ever bought, I had a new Google account created for it (during setup, instead of using an existing account), and only a few actually had phone numbers (I don't generally use smartphones for telephony). Is "Google account" synonymous with "GMail account" these days?

I've had this idea for an experiment where I get such a device (without a simcard), and see how many times I can iterate the Initialize-Device-With-New-Google-Acct-PowerWash-Repeat cycle, and how many Gmail accounts I would have as a result.

sureglymop1y ago

Why did you do that? Android doesn't require an account to work.

bsammon1y ago

(For both Android and ChromeOS) I thought it would be significantly easier to let it use a Google account, than it would be to make it proceed without one. Was I wrong? Serious question.

Links to information would be appreciated, even/especially if it's a complex task to do this.

(I never put a lot of effort into this, because having the Google account be anonymous/fake-named was generally tolerable for my privacy standards)

exe341y ago

I think it does if you want to install anything from the Play Store.

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0 pointsSpringtime1y ago0 comments

* One could create entirely separate accounts but it's high friction and IIRC the same phone number (now a requirement) can only be used for 2-3 accounts.

0 comments

StressedDev1y ago

bossyTeacher1y ago

is running your own e mail server a good idea in 2024? Security issues aside, you are at the mercy of the big email providers and whatever rules they want you to follow

kroltan1y ago

rrwo1y ago

I think the cost of paying for a dedicated email service is worth it. (There are plenty of smaller, privacy-oriented services such as Proton Mail or Fast Mail.)

They're better at it than I am, and it means I don't have to fill up my free time maintaining another server.

bsammon1y ago

> One could create entirely separate accounts but it's high friction and IIRC the

> same phone number (now a requirement) can only be used for 2-3 accounts.

sureglymop1y ago

Why did you do that? Android doesn't require an account to work.

bsammon1y ago

(For both Android and ChromeOS) I thought it would be significantly easier to let it use a Google account, than it would be to make it proceed without one. Was I wrong? Serious question.

Links to information would be appreciated, even/especially if it's a complex task to do this.

(I never put a lot of effort into this, because having the Google account be anonymous/fake-named was generally tolerable for my privacy standards)

exe341y ago

I think it does if you want to install anything from the Play Store.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse