Maybe I just don't understand this whole "privacy" thing

Today I had to get the full account number of a bank account.  It was probably on some old paper statement at home, but I wasn't at home and besides, didn't I "go green with online statements" years ago? Everything's on the web these days, right?

Except when it's not.  Many sites in a similar situation will provide a way of getting your full account number directly. Not this one.  Most will at least provide PDFs of the statements they would have mailed, but again, no.  Fine.  I call them up and give them a bunch of identifiers (not quite as bad as this time, just the usual rigmarole).  May I have my full account number now?  Well, no, they don't give that out over the phone.

But no worries.  What they can do is fax a recent statement, with account activity and all manner of other fun stuff, to any random fax number I choose.  So that's all right, then.

For bonus points, they do read out a disclaimer warning that information sent to a public fax machine might be seen by anyone and everyone.

Noted.