Phone numbers mandatory for Gmail and Yahoo Mail

Number of spams have been increasing every since email was born. So in a bid to curb it, Google and yahoo (free email service providers) have made it mandatory to have a phone number for registering for an email ID. Any person who wishes to create an email account must provide his/ her phone number which will be used by Google and Yahoo for verification. Spokesperson for Google India said initially phone number (telephone or mobile phone) was optional and any attempts to create an email account failed because of skipping the phone number.

Gmail website stated the phone number will be used for checking on spam. This has been done in order to protect users from being abused. Users are asked to prove that they aren’t robots for creating an ID and signing into it. Phone number could provide an additional and effective verification method for keeping spammers away. Google has said of restricting the number of accounts a person can create using one mobile number, but hasn’t specified the number yet.

For Yahoo Mail, Mobile number is required. Yahoo spokesperson said that for security of users, phone number will serve as secondary authentication method. The number will also be used for checking if any unusual activity has taken place on the account. The move has been criticized by ISPAI (internet service provider association of India) saying that there is no actual requirement for this and it could expose an individual’s privacy. They also stated that Indian government should recognize before it can take place.

The Image used in this article is taken from Openclipart.org (Public Domain).