Notices by Marie Gutbub (shiro@chaos.social)

I recently got a new phone number. I spent hours picking the right prepaid plan, setting up things correctly on my phone, updating various account settings and sharing it with people. I had finally taken that tedious step I had been procrastinating for months.

A few days later I get a call. Hannes, from North Germany, says "I want to meet you".

I immediately feel very uncomfortable - something about his tone. I say: "I don't know you". "That's ok", he answers. We're stuck in a loop, he doesn't understand the issue.

I hang up.

Because one thing he said, "but I saw your ad", alerted me, I decide to search for my phone number on Google.

No results, except if I deactivate SafeSearch.

Age, weight, body measurement, pictures: My phone number is also the Whatsapp ID of a sex worker.

I've always wondered what happens to that number you still use for messengers but don't own anymore:

Why tech companies should stop using phone numbers as user IDs - a super weird story in a thread ⬇️