A while back, I came across a writing community that looked interesting and began to register there.
The first box to be filled in? Date of birth, including day, month and year.
Required.
I didn’t like that – I’ll be honest with you. I can understand wanting to know if I’m over 13 or 18, but not a full birthdate.
I wrote to him, asking why he required my birthday. He replied that it was, as I had guessed, to make sure that only those who were over 13 could register. He also indicated I didn’t have to have my birthdate show, but I would have to provide it.
So I wrote back again, saying:
Thank you for answering.
I’ll be passing on your site.
It’s easy enough for you to have a couple of buttons – press one for over 13 years of age, press another for under 13 years of age. As long as you require my full birthdate, I will not register at your site.
This is not about being too shy to show my age, but about security.
His response?
Suit yourself.
He didn’t give a rats patootie. He’s obviously not the least bit concerned about other people’s concerns about privacy or security. He didn’t have a privacy policy on his website, so no assurances even on that score that my private information would be protected even if he could justify requiring a full DOB.
If you have someone’s date of birth, it becomes much easier to steal their identity, their credit rating, their privacy, and their peace of mind.
Today, I came across another site that requires a DOB. It looks like it uses the same forum software as the first one, and again, the DOB was the first thing required before it even goes on to ask more information for registration.
And once more, no easy to find contact information. No privacy policy. No way to contact them and ask what gives.
At what point will these sites realize that requiring such private and personal data is too much? At what point will those who join such forums realize that this is too much? What will it take before they realize that such information is not necessary in order to run a forum?
Or am I just tilting at windmills?
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I agree wompletely with you. I see identity fraud every day in my work. It’s frighteningly easy for anyone with a warped sense of morals to completely ruin another person’s life. There have been many site I have passed up for the same reasons.
It’s nice to know it’s not just me.
In my previous life, I was an accountant. I caught far far too many people trying to commit fraud and whatnot to believe in the innocence of strangers with personal information. Oh, and then there was that crazy roommate, off her meds (which I didn’t even know about), who had a laundry list of personalities, ID, and about ten pounds of mail belonging to me, my other roommate, and all our neighbors.
Yeah, call me paranoid… :p