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Comment by Workaccount2 | Hacker News Reader

>customers’ email addresses, phone numbers, birth dates and frequent flyer numbers

So all things that have likely been leaked 30 times already? Perhaps except the fly miles

Yes, it's a sad situation we're in. We need am indirection step in addresses. So companies don't have our actual address but instead have a handle they can use to interact with that address. And then the actual addresses should be guarded with more responsibility.

Japan Post is rolling out such a system: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44117779

Apple also does it via “hide my email”.

But that's just an identifier which you can easily update when you move, like a domain=>IP mapping? Businesses still have your physical address.

A system where they didn't get our address at all would be great but I think we would also need alternative payment providers that don't share any billing-related address information with the business.

I love this idea, but then doesn’t it create a centralized target for hackers?

I suppose that’s still better cuz then it also creates a centralized point and resources for securing the database.

It’s weird to think that just a few years ago your phone number and address were shared with tens of thousands of people in a massive book.

I feel like if you have someone’s name, it’s not hard at all to find their birthday

And you paid every year to not be listed. The core principle was indeed similar.

I bet the a White Pages publishers are kicking themselves that they never thought of extortion!

More details further in there, but they also leaked passport data.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com