How does having a "Private" phone number or Email address help with privacy.

Questions
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I guess I’m asking where the line is. If I have a second phone number, and I never give the number to anyone, than it will remain private, it will also have no benefit.

I’m not sure why I am finding it so difficult to understand. but for example I recently got a new job and am about to sign a lease on a new apartment. who gets my personal “private” email address and phone number, and who gets my “public” email address and phone number.

What about Doctor offices, or two factor Identification methods.

its possible I just have had bad luck recently but it seems like organization that gets your email address is automatically going to send you 4 emails a day until you find a way to block them. and anyone who gets a hold of your phone number will relentlessly badger you until you take the time answer the phone and explain in detail your decision to go with a different service.

I feel like I should almost never give out real contact information, but I feel like in case of “emergency” my apartment building should probably be able to get in touch with me. and even in the non emergency situation like reminding me i have to give 60 days notice if I am not going to renew my lease . they sent an email but it went to some junk address or alias I used and forgot. But their Privacy Policy is to collect as much data about me as possible and share it with whoever they see fit for whatever purpose.

Anyway looking for some guidelines or best practices on how to benefit from the use of a second phone number or email address.

thanks

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Phone number is tricky. Personally I don’t have two phone numbers. But if I had what I would do is use one for untrusted parties (this annoying app that requires one for some reason) and one for trusted parties (official things & banking’s).

But remember that the best information is the one that you don’t give. If a form asks for a phone number and an email, just fill the number with a random generic (like [country code]01010101).

For email, just use aliases. They forward to your main email, so you will not miss them. Use folders then to filter out unimportant things, like newsletters.

Also, your landlord sharing your personal information seems like a clear violation of norms. Even if your country has few privacy regs, I doubt this is allowed. An emergency phone number implies it is sensitive.

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The private identifier can be used for administrative purposes, such as a recovery method, while the public identifier can be used for general purposes, such as e-commerce.