Phone number pre-requisite to use Gmail and Yahoo

A person who wants to create a new email id needs to provide a telephone number, which world's most popular free email providers Gmail and Yahoo use for verification.

The Gmail website said, "In an effort to protect our users from abuse, we sometimes ask users to prove they're not a robot before they're able to create or sign in to accounts. Having this additional confirmation via phone is an effective way to keep spammers from abusing our systems."

A person can give telephone or mobile number for Gmail, but the new Yahoo needs to have a mobile number.

"At Yahoo, we are committed to the security of our users. We ask our users to provide their mobile number at registration as a secondary means of authentication, in addition to their password. We would only use the number if we see any unusual activity on the account," Yahoo spokesperson said.

Restriction on the number of Google accounts a person can have using one telephone number is set, however the website did not specify the limit. While for Gmail a person can give either telephone or mobile number, for a new Yahoo it is now mandatory to have a mobile number.

Internet Service Providers Association of India condemned the move and termed it as an attack on user's privacy. This activity needs to be recognized by Indian government.