You don't need one. But it's extremely useful in most cases, necessary for many things (playing other players, game accounts) and absolutely nothing privacy-invading about it. Giving someone a random e-mail has nothing to with identity. You're giving someone a random set of characters, so that if you chose to re-engage with that entity, you have some way of doing that.

> Giving someone a random e-mail has nothing to with identity. You're giving someone a random set of characters, so that if you chose to re-engage with that entity, you have some way of doing that.

...until the entity wants forms of payment. Then you've got to keep that random sequence of characters for your life unless you're willing to part ways with your purchase.

No, your statement doesn't reflect the reality that companies do treat emails as identities.

If you're really concerned about it, you can use a VISA without your name on it.

Even though we all of that choice, almost none of us care to do it.

Finally, it has nothing to do with control over hardware.