Why should knowledge of personal data be sufficient to prove identity? When I call my bank, they ask, what is your birth date, as if it isn't basically public info.

It never should have been, that's what I'm saying. But for a long time if you could answer a question like "what street did you live on in 1996" or even the classic "what was your mother's maiden name" that could get you a password reset over the phone.

That era has to end if it hasn't already. Just because an unknown voice can answer questions about me doesn't mean it's me. And these days, you might not even be able to trust a voice-print.

All this "personal data" has to be made valueless. Then people will stop stealing it, and if they do, it won't matter.