Twitter demanding a phone number to unlock a 5 min old account after saying it was optional and then pretending I broke their rules just to get my phone number.
As for the uptick in services requiring phone numbers? All the messaging apps, all the freelance websites, facebook, google, classified ad sites/apps. And these are just examples of things I tried using.
I suspected it was a tactic, too. I've simply complied, giving the number and then removing it (as I did for another account). Not an issue since these accounts were explicitly related, so I didn't care if Twitter could connect them through my number. Anyway, the “cheating” behaviour (pretending it's optional and then requiring it to unlock an account allegedly violating their rule) upset me too.
> Twitter demanding a phone number to unlock a 5 min old account after saying it was optional and then pretending I broke their rules just to get my phone number.
Microsoft/Outlook is insufferably obnoxious in that regard, the last time I saw people signing up for it. At least Gmail asks for your number up front — Microsoft pretends you fucked up and weasels it out of you.
I use/have used literally all of the things on that list, and none have required a phone number for normal use. I've had Facebook, Google, and Twitter all require phone numbers when I've naively tried to set up bots against their services, though, which is what I'm guessing you're having trouble with here.
Try using incognito mode to create an account on google, it won't let you even though it says it's optional. However if you try and create an account in a browser which has a super cookie or google account logged in (or out) attached it'll be fine without one because I believe they are tying it to your repuation.
Calm down, personal insults aren't necessary. I have to admit I've had the same experience, don't know my phone number and don't carry it with me for the majority of the time and I've needed it twice so far. Once for a Twitter bot and once for a Telegram bot.
Never before have I been asked for a phone number that hasn't been optional from any other service (of which I have quite a few, LastPass counts about 2,200 of them).
(Of course, sometimes I do still take the optional road, two factor authentication is exceptionally nice).
What about North Korea? Why does it last there? Why don't they revolt? But actually, a more relevant question would be, why haven't they already? How much suffering can they take?
I'm Romanian too. The censorship, oppression, and whatever other bad thing you might want to refer to, will last as long as the powers that be want it to last. When our "revolution" happened, people didn't even know what to think of it when they heard the news and really many thought it was a joke, and that's because they could not believe it was possible. There was no buildup that "took more than 40 years", a lot of people were satisfied with their lives, the ones that were not were quieted, and the rest were ignorant and didn't really care just like people now under pretty much any regime around the world. Hell, some older people that I have met even say they liked it better back then.
Real population driven revolutions can't really happen anymore, if they ever could.
Dude, you're too pessimistic, much like all of our Romanian brethren :)
Not to glorify our own revolution, because there isn't much to glorify about it, but the spark triggering a revolution is never conscious and it's by definition a violent process, so of course people do not want revolutions. It's not like they were speaking about it on forums, it's not like they woke up one day and decided to have it. And yes, you'll always have people satisfied with their lives, or ignorant. Doesn't matter though and you know as well as I do that Radio Free Europe was the most popular radio station, as a form of civil unrest, in spite of people actually fearing the secret service for listening to it. What happened in Bucharest wasn't an isolated event. It started earlier with Brașov in 1986. It was bound to happen, trying to hide the events from Timișoara being just what broke the camel's back.
> some older people that I have met even say they liked it better back then
Old people always say that. It's an inherent bias in how our memory works. We tend to forget the bad and our attention deficit only grows as we get older.
Did you know that in the past years we've had the lowest levels of sickness and that global poverty is at an all times low? We are probably living the best years in history and when I'll be old I'll be able to say that as well and regret year 2016 and say to youngsters that "in my days not that many people died of hunger".
>even if I wanted to I have no idea if I want to use something in my house.
Everything in your house is toxic. Pick up anything with the ingredients on the label and google a random one that has a funny name. Then read about it on wikipedia and you can go further from there if you want and see the studies. Chances are it is very toxic but it's used in small ammounts so you shouldn't worry about it because the effects only show up after years and years of use.
Then look at the unlabeled stuff and food packaging. What's it made of? What is it coloured with? What's in the glue that holds it together? What does the paper have in it?
Checkout the uses for isothiazolinone and related compounds like methylchloroisothiazolinone if you are curious about something that's in practically everything.
I think that's exactly the point I was trying to make. I know that whether something is dangerous or not depends entirely on the concentration, and/or the form of it (ie solid metal lead isn't too scary, any type of its compound is). Unfortunately, I can't know the concentration(since packaging obviously doesn't mention it), and I don't know what's the threshold I should be careful about either.
As for the uptick in services requiring phone numbers? All the messaging apps, all the freelance websites, facebook, google, classified ad sites/apps. And these are just examples of things I tried using.