Why do the users need to give their phone number to verify the identity?
Firstly, it's a little disappointing from a privacy point of view. I have no idea who's going to have access to that information, nor how it might be used. Privacy in the US isn't much of a concern most of the time.
Secondly, it doesn't allow to verify the identity, as it claims to do, so I'm not sure what the point is. The only possibility it offers is preventing people from using two different accounts, I suppose, although I'm not sure it actually does (I don't have two accounts nor the motivation to try).
Has this requirement been enabled by mistake, and would it be possible to remove it?
