Re: [w3ctag/design-reviews] Incubation: Email Verification Protocol (Issue #1169)

dickhardt left a comment (w3ctag/design-reviews#1169)

>> We thought the privacy improvements were worth it. What do you think?

> A lot of the design rides on this assumption. As I said, I am unconvinced. Or rather, I am almost firm in a conviction that it's the wrong choice in this case.

> There are two reasons to share email with someone: to allow them to communicate with you and to allow them to identify you. The latter I have no care for[1](https://github.com/w3ctag/design-reviews/issues/1169#user-content-fn-track-fb23e67a7a11774128a9fdb8700fe783), but the former always involves the mail provider. So I'm very much of the view that privacy with respect to an email provider is a non-goal.

I agree there is little value in privacy from the mail provider if the email is being used to communicate. 

I respectfully disagree strongly with your view on email as an identifier

Correlating a user across trust domains is both a feature and a bug. While I think we all agree that tracking is bad, we all want someone to be able to fund our stuff and share things with us. 

There are only 2 global, general purpose identifiers: email and phone. 

These are identifiers that we know about ourselves, that we can share with others, and that others have associated with their view of us. Use of disposable email addresses is a customer service nightmare. While there is value in using them for receiving communication, they are not a memorable identifier.

Being able to prove you control an email address, effectively being able to identify yourself, is a fundamental feature of the internet. Many systems won't work without it. 

You may like the tracking that emails enable, but I strongly view you are swimming against the tide wanting to take it away.  


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