You aren’t giving any credit to the fact that, worldwide, society largely operates lawfully, in no small part thanks to the penalties associated with breaking laws. These things often have a way of working themselves out.

I’m not saying that Verizon’s handling of this was anything other than grossly negligent, but let’s not pretend that the sole solution to, well, any problem involve…what? Asymmetric cryptography?

Something being illegal, even in another jurisdiction, is certainly a deterrent for a lot of people.

Exactly. Did you know bank safes are vulnerable to an easily fashioned homemade pipe bomb?