There actually IS a bad side to the fact that our Personal Information is no longer private.
Identity Theft. Problem growing worse by the day. Too late to halt it. For example, I had to mail IRS a check: that check MUST HAVE my S/S number written on it, as well as other personal information I would rather not include. Without it, they will not accept the check. Big deal? How many hands will that check pass through, as well as being viewed by prying eyes? Paranoid? Am I nuts? Read on before answering.
Have filled-out and filed my own tax returns for over 50 years now, myself, no outside preparer. Last year my wife had to sign up for Obamacare, she being then 62. In doing so, we visited the local IRS office, a one-man operation, handled most skillfully and courteously. The guy worked at his computer several minutes, as my wife and I sat by fidgeting (I had never face-to-faced an IRS agent before). Surprise! The guy asked me where & when I had obtained my S/S card and number. I told him 1958, in Berwyn, Illinois. Then he asked me about the tax return I filed the previous year, 2013, in Oklahoma. HUH? Never even been in Oklahoma! After considerable discussion, the agent agreed he believed I was who I said I was, and revealed some guy living in Oklahoma had filed for a refund of $7,800 using MY NAME and SOCIAL SECURITY number! That remarkable thief is likely (hopefully) in prison now.
Always careful of my personal info., nonetheless, somehow, my identity had been stolen and used fraudulently. The agent assured us we were not in any kind of trouble, and indicated he had seen hundreds of similar cases of ID theft!
True story. You know, then, my name is not really "imp".