[dhfhduk]

Without meaning to pick on T-Mobile, the stories I'm hearing here, including yours, lead me to believe that T-Mobile is liable for damages. As in, they didn't take reasonable precautions to safeguard your account, and you suffered financial damages as a result.

I am generally of the philosophy that you should trust no one to do the right thing, but these cases seem to be overlooking the obvious that the phone companies are fucking up on security.

[thephyber]

Large companies like cell providers have concentrated benefits and their customers have diffuse costs. They force a large contract on you (because they have an oligopoly and you have only ~4 or fewer realistic choices) and that contract almost always contains a "no class action" and a "forced arbitration" clause. While those clauses exist, we are at the mercy of cell providers. Potentially very large customers (large companies and governments) might be able to demand changes in the contract, but it's unlikely to automatically filter down to the individual consumer.

I'm starting to worry about similar weak process security on the part of the IRS and Social Security. You can theoretically opt out of using a cell phone, but it's far harder to opt out of government programs that are forced on you with the threat of state force.