When does protecting privacy morph into invading privacy?
Recently, I tried to toy around with some of the better security apps for my iPhone and checked out a very impressive package called Lookout. One of its features seeks to make identity theft a little more difficult. So far, so good.
The service says that it searches the dark web and various databases looking for any leak, quite likely from a breach. That sounds worth doing.
So I start filling out the online forms, and before long my head was filled with the protesting voices of every chief privacy officer I have ever spoken with. Lookout starts by asking for all of your email addresses and phone numbers, before moving on to complete driver's license number, medical insurance card numbers and full passport number. It also seeks full banking account details (routing numbers, too), all credit and debit card numbers and Social Security number, and asks to connect to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.