I'm starting to wonder if it would be a good thing if the data from one of these broad hacks was widely distributed, forcing companies to come up with a better

I'm starting to wonder if it would be a good thing if the data from one of these broad hacks was widely distributed, forcing companies to come up with a better way to verify "identity". If companies knew that there was a database that everyone has access to with all the data you need to signup for new sources of credit for 50% of US residents, there would be a very strong financial incentive to actually fix the problem.