What's with the inflammatory (and patently incorrect) HN title?

(it has since been fixed)

You can still use mail providers other than gmail (which actually provide true anonymity as a service), and you can also buy a SIM card and phone with cash.

The last time I checked, you could also accept a gmail invite without giving your mobile number.

Yep, quoting the article: "Also, if you know someone who already has a Gmail address, you can ask them to email an invitation to you."

I fail to see how this "kills email anonymity" You can get a phone for $10 at any Walmart / Target / Bestbuy activate it anonymously with a number in any area code you want w/o providing any personal information what so ever.

in my country you need to provide identification (that is logged) to buy a sim card that way

As someone who didn't even own a mobile phone until half a year ago (and still doesn't like the idea of them), I don't really like the sound of this.

As someone who dislikes spam, I really like the sound of this.

I've actually been toying with doing this rather then email verification and a captcha for a social site. Would you find this more or less annoying then an email loop and a captcha?

Yes, I'd only do it if I trusted the site, but it works far and away better at preventing spam than a CAPTCHA. It seems more annoying to the bad guys than the good guys. To this day it's the only thing that Craigslist has done that has worked. Phone numbers are expensive to get, especially since they block most VoIP stuff.

Google around about Craigslist phone verification and you'll read all the spammers having freak out sessions. It's a great way to spend an hour.

Definitely more annoying. I dare you to add "Phone Number" as a required field to your signup (don't even bother verifying it) and measure the change in signup abandonment.

It's been this way for years for most other countries. But the invite method does work and I got my first gmail address via that. However for my other gmail address, I just gave them my mobile number and typed in the verification code I received via sms.

> Also, if you know someone who already has a Gmail address, you can ask them to email an invitation to you.

I'm taking it at face value as anti-spam.

Anyone know if a trakfone will work for this?

I'm pretty sure it would. You have a number and can receive text messages.