Hmmm... You know ~ he might be right in many ways. Think about Y2K and the concern it generated. We were all going to turn into pumpkins at midnight. Cars might stop working, phones - what if phones stopped working? Certainly computers and all they controlled would cough up something nasty. Streetlights, airplanes, eeeeeh!
Those lazy code writing geeks let this happen, and now this is going to be a real pain in the butt. I remember hanging out and waiting with my company IT staff (I was paying them extra too) at the ready when the moment came. We backed up everything. I think I might have even paid a network consultant to "check me out" beforehand.
The clock struck twelve. In fact, it struck twelve a whole bunch of times in different parts of the world. The staging of this disaster left it lacking in drama. Anyway - nothing happened. Literally nothing. We tested a few things and all was well and we went home. The next day - nothing. Y2K had passed without all the crashes and explosions. A few apps here and there might have been affected, but nothing with dire consequences. We were seriously over-prepared. The fear had been way over sold.
The fear of identity theft is something lots of people are trying to capitalize on. Look how many companies have sprung up in the past year looking to protect you. In a lot of ways, this is a Y2K-esque situation. I think it's probably being oversold at least a little bit.
Unlike Y2K, the problem is real. People have had their identity stolen and been fleeced. With Y2K, some people made money helping us prepare and calming our fears, but unlike Y2K there won't be a moment when "it's over". So this problem, the risk and the solutions have a place. Actually, identity theft is a new and improved Y2K.
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