You’re right that it’s impossible to have zero exposure in modern life. That’s not the goal.
The issue isn’t whether data exists somewhere — it’s how many copies exist, who controls them, and under what terms.
Every additional party that stores your data increases:
the number of attack surfaces
the number of policies you don’t control
the chance of misuse, breach, or secondary use
Saying “my data is already out there” is like saying “I already drive on busy roads, so seatbelts don’t matter.” You still reduce risk where you can.
Intuit isn’t special because they’re uniquely bad — they’re just another unnecessary custodian of sensitive data. Avoiding that doesn’t eliminate risk, but it does reduce it, and that’s the entire point of security and privacy best practices.
Risk management isn’t about perfection. It’s about not making the problem worse by choice.
