Tonight, I had to file a claim for one of my teenager's phones. It's dead. I called AT&T, and after quite a bit of (perfectly reasonable) back and forth about whether it was a warranty, or an insurance claim, I finally got through to an appropriate insurance person.
In order to validate that I was who I claimed to be, they asked me (reasonably enough) my last four of my social, but then they said, "and, now sir, just a couple more questions, compiled from publicly available information..."
Having been here before, I immediately, and metaphorically, gasped, and the first question was, "What color is your 2007 Chevy Express?"
I answered, "White", and they asked me another, obvious question, which I answered correctly, and the claim went on from there, but...
How the hell did they know that I had a 2007 Chevy Express????
And, they had it at their fingertips!!!!
If you are not seriously disturbed by this, you are not paying attention.
Folks, this is the Privacy Revolution in action.
If you need more, I suggest you read this,, and this, and this.
George Orwell was right. He just got the dates wrong.
:-(
Stand by for more information, and try to stay safe.