Anyone have DPA knowledge?
Discussion
HenryJM said:
Every year we used to get a book delivered with many people's names and addresses and phone numbers listed and nobody had an issue. It was called the telephone directory.
Indeed as did most telephone subscribers. My earliest entries therin were 50+ years ago. Times change and attitudes alter. I first became ex directory more than 40 years ago. Liquidating companies and similar occasionally challenging activities made easy personal access had to end. I think that the consequences of the scammers delight that has unintentionally flowed from the internet expansion makes personal information too valuable to risk. I not like this trend but it is a fact. I think protecting all personal information is common sense nowadays. Better to be safe than sorry.
Eleven said:
HenryJM said:
Every year we used to get a book delivered with many people's names and addresses and phone numbers listed and nobody had an issue. It was called the telephone directory.
Yep, and I wasn't in it.Jon1967x said:
Are you by any chance 43 years old? Did the house over the road sell for £185k in January by any chance? Took 2 mins to find that if I'm right, and whats worse is if I'm wrong and its another Adrian Chapman then it would be an unfortunate case of mistake identity with people jumping to all kinds of wrong conclusions (thats how easy it is which is why it matters).
I've refrained from posting your address, your date of birth, and the other information I found along the way to protect your privacy, the above will mean something to you but mean nothing to others
<shrug> Sorry, is that meant to scare me or something?I've refrained from posting your address, your date of birth, and the other information I found along the way to protect your privacy, the above will mean something to you but mean nothing to others
I've hardly taken massive steps to distance my online identity from my real one - I mean, I've been using this username across many forums, usenet, domain names and pretty much the whole internet for well north of a decade. There's people on here who I've known in real life for a lot longer.
As far as my full name, it's hardly uncommon - and yet there are several directors come up in a CoHo search, not just for first + surname, but first + middle + surname. As far as the house prices go, that figure doesn't even ring a vague bell - and there is no house over the road from me.
Don't forget to send me a birthday card.
Edited by TooMany2cvs on Monday 18th August 23:08
Well the house is the next number to yours and I didn't bother checking where it was in relation to yours.. But good to see your not bothered equated to denying all knowledge.
The point is simply that some people have no clue how much information can be quickly pulled together about them, with various degrees of accuracy, and can lead to that info bring used for dubious purposes.
The point is simply that some people have no clue how much information can be quickly pulled together about them, with various degrees of accuracy, and can lead to that info bring used for dubious purposes.
Jon1967x said:
Well the house is the next number to yours and I didn't bother checking where it was in relation to yours.
My house doesn't have a number. The address doesn't even have a road name in it. As for my old address (I've not lived there for 3.5yrs) the one you'd have found if you were going off CoHo details, well - that price wouldn't have bought a garden shed round there.If you're going to do some amateur sleuthing, going off the unsubtle clues in my PH profile is a good start.
I wonder who that birthday card will get to?
TooMany2cvs said:
Jon1967x said:
Well the house is the next number to yours and I didn't bother checking where it was in relation to yours.
My house doesn't have a number. The address doesn't even have a road name in it. As for my old address (I've not lived there for 3.5yrs) the one you'd have found if you were going off CoHo details, well - that price wouldn't have bought a garden shed round there.If you're going to do some amateur sleuthing, going off the unsubtle clues in my PH profile is a good start.
I wonder who that birthday card will get to?
Jon1967x said:
I love it when people get defensive
Defensive? No. Not at all.I'm merely pointing out that - despite me making absolutely no effort to separate my real life and online identities - your amateur sleuthing has managed to uncover some random stuff, a long way from being 100% correct. TBH, I think you've actually managed to disprove the whole online identity theft paranoia, rather than prove it.
Sorry if that's inconvenient for you, but there we go...
TooMany2cvs said:
Jon1967x said:
I love it when people get defensive
Defensive? No. Not at all.I'm merely pointing out that - despite me making absolutely no effort to separate my real life and online identities - your amateur sleuthing has managed to uncover some random stuff, a long way from being 100% correct. TBH, I think you've actually managed to disprove the whole online identity theft paranoia, rather than prove it.
Sorry if that's inconvenient for you, but there we go...
How was your 40th in Chesterfield by the way?
The telephone directory had my name and address but didn't say where I had my 40th party or that I had a pet dog called fido. The world has changed, the genie is probably out the bottle but having had my bank account emptied a few years back I for one is perhaps a little more careful than most and would advise a degree of caution.
If a business goes into liquidation, that usually means debt. I'm sure there are people who are prepared to find alternative ways of being paid without waiting in turn on the creditors list.
If a business goes into liquidation, that usually means debt. I'm sure there are people who are prepared to find alternative ways of being paid without waiting in turn on the creditors list.
Jon1967x said:
In the same way you kept saying "you had a choice" to the OP.. I'll keep saying you're getting defensive. Damn annoying isn't it?
The difference being, of course, that the OP really DID have a choice.Jon1967x said:
How was your 40th in Chesterfield by the way?
<chuckle> I spent my 40th birthday 150 miles from Chesterfield. But, please, keep on proving that point so eloquently...<edit: A quick google later, and I can see exactly what conclusion you've leapt to. Damn fine weekend, actually.>
Edited by TooMany2cvs on Tuesday 19th August 18:50
The notion that someone might choose not to start a business purely as a result of concerns about access to their personal information is preposterous. It's only right that customers know who they are trading with. However, making the information available on the internet does make it very easy for fraudsters and nutters to target you. And let me assure you that this does happen using nothing but the public information available at Companies House.
As funny as it may seem, please remember that amateur sleuthing and posting personal information is against the rules on PH.
As funny as it may seem, please remember that amateur sleuthing and posting personal information is against the rules on PH.
FunkySon said:
As funny as it may seem, please remember that amateur sleuthing and posting personal information is against the rules on PH.
Hence..Jon1967x said:
I've refrained from posting your address, your date of birth, and the other information I found along the way to protect your privacy
Jon1967x said:
FunkySon said:
As funny as it may seem, please remember that amateur sleuthing and posting personal information is against the rules on PH.
Hence..Jon1967x said:
I've refrained from posting your address, your date of birth, and the other information I found along the way to protect your privacy
Honestly, I don't mind.
Jon - in attempting to prove the point that it's easy to find all sorts of personal details on somebody who takes precautions about their information - hasn't even managed to find correct details for somebody who's ridiculously easy to track. I mean, the "40th birthday" thing has come from the 2cv club's public website event calendar... Oooh! I can't imagine HOW he managed to tie me to that, can you? If he'd really found me on CoHo, (again, VERY unsubtle clues as to which is the right me) he'd have known that wasn't actually my birthday, nor would he have posted the house price error so proudly.
"But having your details mistakenly assumed to be somebody else's is even worse" is a total fallacy. I wonder how many people share a first name, a year of birth, and live in a given county? Add in a wife's name, and you're half way to leaping to all sorts of assumptions about who somebody might or might not be - regardless of what's actually available on that individual. And that's before you've even really scratched the surface of Pistonheads.
Even if your details ARE hidden from a casual half-arsed amateur sleuth, that doesn't mean anybody who's actually serious and competent will have to break the slightest sweat. Security by obscurity is not security. It's merely a thin veil of security to help the paranoid believe they're secure.
Jon - in attempting to prove the point that it's easy to find all sorts of personal details on somebody who takes precautions about their information - hasn't even managed to find correct details for somebody who's ridiculously easy to track. I mean, the "40th birthday" thing has come from the 2cv club's public website event calendar... Oooh! I can't imagine HOW he managed to tie me to that, can you? If he'd really found me on CoHo, (again, VERY unsubtle clues as to which is the right me) he'd have known that wasn't actually my birthday, nor would he have posted the house price error so proudly.
"But having your details mistakenly assumed to be somebody else's is even worse" is a total fallacy. I wonder how many people share a first name, a year of birth, and live in a given county? Add in a wife's name, and you're half way to leaping to all sorts of assumptions about who somebody might or might not be - regardless of what's actually available on that individual. And that's before you've even really scratched the surface of Pistonheads.
Even if your details ARE hidden from a casual half-arsed amateur sleuth, that doesn't mean anybody who's actually serious and competent will have to break the slightest sweat. Security by obscurity is not security. It's merely a thin veil of security to help the paranoid believe they're secure.
TooMany2cvs said:
Security by obscurity is not security. It's merely a thin veil of security to help the paranoid believe they're secure.
Probably not true when it comes to identity theft. With so many people willing to publish their life stories on the internet, why would an identity thief go to the trouble of tracking down all the details of someone who is particularly obscure?It's a bit like theft deterrents on your car, the numerous casual thieves will simply choose something easier to steal. If you have a professional thief who wants your car, then you are going to struggle to keep it.
Mr2Mike said:
TooMany2cvs said:
Security by obscurity is not security. It's merely a thin veil of security to help the paranoid believe they're secure.
Probably not true when it comes to identity theft. With so many people willing to publish their life stories on the internet, why would an identity thief go to the trouble of tracking down all the details of someone who is particularly obscure?It's a bit like theft deterrents on your car, the numerous casual thieves will simply choose something easier to steal. If you have a professional thief who wants your car, then you are going to struggle to keep it.
Police never found the car. The inspector involved was chatting to the owner who said he wish he had been there to stop this. The Inspector suggested it was fortunate he was not because with thieves this determined nothing would stop them. It could therefore have been good not to be there. However I do think in less valuable cars visible security devices can make the chancers look elsewhere. But the determined thieves take some stopping.
Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff