privacy

After the OPM hack, i just carry on, make sure my password is changed. i use a pass manager so all my passwords are different.

A law to prohibit data collection would be nice.

The honest truth is you would have to be one of those in the woods off the grid types to actually protect yourself. For example, many utilities will require an SSN or SIN to credit check you along with obviously your name and service address. They obviously do not do that in house so they goto third parties (like the guys you mentioned) who keep troves of this information on file and swap information amongst themselves when beneficial. Considering that about half of the world’s adult age people may be in this list I would say there is more than a decent chance you are in this breach and probably have been part of others.

Also this is just one attack vector, there always exist other methods such as just paying someone with “authorization” for your data, be it a credit agency through deceit, a private investigator who does no vetting, or just bribing a government official/police officer.

a good password manager will alert you when a site you have a password saved for has a breach.

also i’d say periodically go through your saved passwords and any that you aren’t using anymore, proactively ask the company to delete your data and close your account.