Comment by herbst
2 years ago
Well nobody is a bit a overstatement when thousands if not millions of people actually do run their own or partial email stack. If you don't own your email it's just as bad as a phone number, but not worse.
In general emails don't just get removed and given out again if you don't interact with them for a few months. Phone numbers do usually after 6-12 months or even after 3 months for some providers.
You can prepay a domain for up to 10 years or more and always setup a email server when you need it so you essentially have full control, long term.
And don't get me started with possible SIM copy and stealing attacks. Things already pretty much solved with email and DMCA
I said "nobody does" because nobody can. It's a practical impossibility to run your own email today. It doesn't even matter if you have the necessary advanced technical skills. It's just not possible. https://cfenollosa.com/blog/after-self-hosting-my-email-for-...
As the owner of the same cell phone number for the last 23 years, proposing hosting your own email as an alternative to SIM cards that's available at every corner doesn't sound feasible to me at all. I don't even like cell operators, but that's just the way it is.
That's one anecdotal experience and simply not an ultimate turth.
I've had a email startup (sold meanwhile, but still running) and seen all these mentioned issues and know very well how painful this can be, but far from impossible. There is a market for clean IPs for company infrastructure, that's a thing still as well.
Probably I shouldn't say email is much better. But phone numbers definitely are a very weak decision for any kind of security.