Sep 20, 2026 · 56 min · 10 segments
Why do major data breaches keep happening—and why do the usual fixes often make the underlying problem worse? Alex and Richard unpack the systemic incentives behind identity-data collection, KYC/AML…
I think there are a lot of reasons that it's happening.
So one is obviously that there's an industry and there's known methods to vend and sell stolen identities, right? So there's money in it.
That's one reason it's happening.
Um, but I think the more, you know, kind of interesting things to pursue are like, how come no one's doing anything about this? Because obviously, you know, if you've got money in a till or gold in a bank vault, you know, there's going to be interest in trying to get people trying to get their hands on it.
So we should be thinking about how and why this happens.
And to me, the big thing is why do we keep building databases full of people's uh, personal information, like why so many of them, why in the hands of such a variety of companies, um, when we know that like, this is immediately just creating a lot of targets, um, for, you know, people who are interested in stealing this stuff.
And I think that's really the, the, the, the big thing to be thinking about.
And I think a lot of people kind of think it's inevitable and I think that's also not true.
So, um, to me, that's, that's the real heart of what we should be talking about when we think about these things.
Okay, so what I'm reading there between the lines is that there may be some incumbent interests which are maybe not so interested in changing the way things are done.
Well, yeah, I mean, you have to ask, going back to the Einstein quote, You know, if this keeps happening and people keep, you know, being concerned about it, why are we not changing the way things operate? And I think the number one reason is, you know, the classic thing of it's not a conspiracy.
It's not evil or anything.
It's sheer laziness.
And I think here we have a combination of assumptions from lawmakers that they have to collect this data or wanting to collect this data for bureaucratic reasons.
And then we have assumption on users' parts that it has to be collected and that you have to put yourself at this risk.
I know most people probably feel a little bit um, nervous handing over personal documents over the phone or over some video chat link or whatever, but we kind of pat it down and think, well, we have to do this to participate.
And I think that's based on a little bit of an assumption that, well, you know, the authorities are making these rules for good reasons.
Um, and then the, the companies don't have a better way of, you know, there isn't a Collecting this information and then thirdly, oh, well, you know, there's not much you can do because these technical hacks, you know, like people break in with, you know, lasers and the internet and stuff.
And there's nothing you can do to stop this, you know, like data will want to be free.
And so we end up in this sort of circle of laziness where there's not a lot of people stopping and saying, we don't have to have this happening and we can do something fundamental about it.
And so there's a
lot of lobbying for, we can make this better.
We can sell more product doing this.
There's not a lot of lobbying for, or anyone really out there saying, maybe we just don't need to do it at all.
I think there are a lot of reasons that it's happening.
So one is obviously that there's an industry and there's known methods to vend and sell stolen identities, right? So there's money in it.
That's one reason it's happening.
Um, but I think the more, you know, kind of interesting things to pursue are like, how come no one's doing anything about this? Because obviously, you know, if you've got money in a till or gold in a bank vault, you know, there's going to be interest in trying to get people trying to get their hands on it.
So we should be thinking about how and why this happens.
And to me, the big thing is why do we keep building databases full of people's uh, personal information, like why so many of them, why in the hands of such a variety of companies, um, when we know that like, this is immediately just creating a lot of targets, um, for, you know, people who are interested in stealing this stuff.
And I think that's really the, the, the, the big thing to be thinking about.
And I think a lot of people kind of think it's inevitable and I think that's also not true.
So, um, to me, that's, that's the real heart of what we should be talking about when we think about these things.
Okay, so what I'm reading there between the lines is that there may be some incumbent interests which are maybe not so interested in changing the way things are done.
Well, yeah, I mean, you have to ask, going back to the Einstein quote, You know, if this keeps happening and people keep, you know, being concerned about it, why are we not changing the way things operate? And I think the number one reason is, you know, the classic thing of it's not a conspiracy.
It's not evil or anything.
It's sheer laziness.
And I think here we have a combination of assumptions from lawmakers that they have to collect this data or wanting to collect this data for bureaucratic reasons.
And then we have assumption on users' parts that it has to be collected and that you have to put yourself at this risk.
I know most people probably feel a little bit um, nervous handing over personal documents over the phone or over some video chat link or whatever, but we kind of pat it down and think, well, we have to do this to participate.
And I think that's based on a little bit of an assumption that, well, you know, the authorities are making these rules for good reasons.
Um, and then the, the companies don't have a better way of, you know, there isn't a Collecting this information and then thirdly, oh, well, you know, there's not much you can do because these technical hacks, you know, like people break in with, you know, lasers and the internet and stuff.
And there's nothing you can do to stop this, you know, like data will want to be free.
And so we end up in this sort of circle of laziness where there's not a lot of people stopping and saying, we don't have to have this happening and we can do something fundamental about it.
And so there's a
lot of lobbying for, we can make this better.
We can sell more product doing this.
There's not a lot of lobbying for, or anyone really out there saying, maybe we just don't need to do it at all.
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