And another thing!

Yesterday's close encounter with a virus-laden email (that was sent from one of my own email addresses to another of mine) reminded me of something else I wanted to get off my chest.

Dear Yahoo!, Google, et al.,

Stop asking me for my mobile (cell phone) number. You're not getting it. You're never getting it.

You're not really asking for it for my "security." You want to use it. Sell it. And I don't want to hear from you -- or any of your "partners." Besides, even if I voluntarily gave it to you and the pack of wolves you want to "share" my information with, I'd likely be giving it Eastern European hackers, too. Especially on Yahoo!

And that goes double for you banks who keep asking. Haven't you taken enough from us? Do you have to sell our cell phone numbers too?

Chase is particularly awful on this. Try and pay your card on line sometime: They won't let you unless you give them a phone number to send a "security code" to. Security code my Aunt Martha's false teeth. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I don't want security preventing someone from paying my bills. If some idiot hacker wants to pay down my credit card balance, he or she is at complete liberty to do so.