Re: Phone number varification in games
Sito, again, you're also not getting it. You say emails can be recreated, you're correct with that, but not the case with phone numbers? That's where you're wrong. Ever hear of services like Textnow, Talkatone, you name it? Yeah, there's your recreated phone number right there if someone got banned. Even beyond those services, there are sites that let you create disposable phone numbers for the sole purpose of receiving sms messages. Believe me, I've seen phone number verification fail, people who remember mobile speak's phone number registration system, *not encouraging this in any way* can be tripped simply by switching out your phone's sim card, and there's your extra 30 days like new. So before you go bashing on either side like it's black and white, why don't you program your own damn verification system, and see what happens when it gets into the hands of the public, and gauge its success that way. And might I remind you that we aren't, or at least I'm not, bashing Sam in particular about this. Just looking at the forum and Twitter will tell you his reputation as a dev around here, again not bashing him, but I'd be saying the same thing to any dev that hasn't done this before, any new dev, or even one who's under 18 and doing this. Say what you will, but personally I think handling that sensitive information as a minor is even more dangerous than it is not. You know why some older p2p chatting programs have the 3year age difference guideline for minors? Not exactly for this reason, but similar enough. I'm not saying people couldn't play it, but it's the internet, you'll never know who'll be playing your game, especially when it comes to the fact that there are definitely some people beyond this forum that could be playing. Sam's in no position to defend himself should someone decide to sue if a security breach exposes all the phone numbers. And you can't say it won't happen, because no matter how good the security is, no matter how many layers of encryption you apply, a skilled hacker with malicious intentions can eventually find a way to break it. It's the internet, and it's software. Just as how any software can be cracked offline, the same thing applies with server software. Even the Tore network, supposedly rapped in layers of encryption, got broken into. Long story short, the internet is anything but a safe haven for information. It's why I always use offline password managers, never ones that connect to the cloud. They claim to be secure, yeah, secure my ass. Once that server gets a security breach, which it may, then there will be tears in the morning as your passwords are exposed. I'm also not saying this because he's not a big company, because big companies have the same things to consider when dealing with phone number verification. And even that's not perfect either, once you see your number going right into the hands of marketing companies. You'd be amazed at how much they'll pay for something we take for granted like personal information. Slj, you're right in that it can be an optional feature. In fact, that would work better from a user's point of view, because there'd be other options that users could consider before surrendering their number. Of course, Sam could put on his site that people can make a disposable phone number if they're concerned about privacy, but that's like giving banned users the key if they take it, because they'd also be clearly aware that they too could trip the system by making another disposable number. There'd be no way to know. Most companies who use this, like Google, will require you to verify your number before you so much as continue with the registration, so it's not like an after the fact thing.
_______________________________________________ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com https://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
