'Inherent' has an absoluteness, which I disproved. Relying on email, is inherently troublesome, I agree.
But as I said, it's not about what's technically, or ethically mandated, but what's ensuring users won't get annoyed (getting bombed with mails is bad PR). Companies collect all these IDs for their (future) shareholders first and foremost. Asking for email doesn't alert people. Phone number would be more alarming, but that's still becoming the norm. They would ask for a picture of your passport too, but ... oh, wait!
Casually integrating Cloudflare into everything (incl. TLS termination lol), only makes data collection incentives greater. Let's not give in by declaring Cloudflare a fundamental necessity. Or do, but don't complaint about your disowned life as cattle.
Cloudflare has a stranglehold on the internet, but its marketshare is much lower than the incumbant email giants. Aprroximately 70-90% of all email goes through Google & Microsoft. You're trading one benevolant toll keeper for another... except those two give you no recourse should you end up on a sh*tlist or don't meet their unspecified and forever changing criteria for being a recognised mail provider.
