Your phone number has become your online identity. That can be risky. So what can we do about it?
In 2010, a group of Dutch programmers created a website called ‘PleaseRobMe.com’. They built it in just four hours. The website used location information that people had shared publicly on Twitter (now called X) and Foursquare. It showed which homes might be empty because the owners were away. The website wasn’t trying to help burglars. Instead, it wanted to warn people about the dangers of sharing too much information online.
Around the same time, some technology experts even said that privacy was “dead”. They believed that the internet had made it almost impossible to keep personal information secret.
But if our phones, apps and the internet already know so much about us, why does privacy still matter?
There are two important reasons. First, privacy is a basic human right. Everyone deserves some control over their personal information. Second, just because privacy has become harder to protect doesn’t mean we should stop trying. We may not be able to become invisible online, but we can still make it harder for scammers and criminals to misuse our information.
One piece of information is especially important to protect: your phone number.
Originally, phone numbers were only meant to help people make calls. But over time, they became linked to bank accounts, electricity and water bills, tax records, shopping apps and many other services. Changing your phone number became so difficult that most people kept the same one for years. Today, your phone number has become part of your identity.
The problem is that your phone number is not only used to identify you. It is also used to prove that you are really you. Many websites send one-time passwords (OTPs) to your phone. That means your phone number acts like both your username and your password. That’s not very safe.
If someone steals your phone or tricks your mobile company into giving them control of your SIM card, they could get access to many of your online accounts. This kind of scam, called SIM fraud, does happen.
Your phone number is stored by banks, shops, streaming services and many other companies. It has probably been leaked in data breaches more than once. That’s why you should be careful about where you share your phone number.
Companies also need to do a better job of protecting people’s data. Features like WhatsApp usernames, which let you chat without sharing your phone number, are a step in the right direction. But governments also need strong rules to stop companies from using unfair tricks, called dark patterns, that push people into sharing more information than they want to.
Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
