[Wikipedia-l] Where ends the responsibility of Wikipedia? (personal information of people)

Sun Jan 29 13:37:38 UTC 2006

On 29/01/06, Walter Vermeir <walter at wikipedia.be> wrote:
> I have seen a request form a person who has a entry on the English
> language Wikipedia to remove his date of birth because he fears identity
> theft. He is a USA-citizens.
>
> At first glance that seems to me a very strange reason to request to
> remove that information. How can you steal someones identity??

Basically, I take all the personal information I can gather about one
"Vermeir, W.", and use it to... well, impersonate you. I take out
loans in your name, or run up debts against you, or use your identity
instead of mine in order to do various nefarious acts. More "unlawful
borrowing" than "stealing", since the person doesn't lose their
identity per se, but it's a catchy phrase.

And every little bit of data helps - the more questions about "my"
identity I can answer, the more it seems to someone on the other end
of a phoneline that, yes, I do own that bank account or credit card or
small business. It's not common - certainly not as common as it's
sometimes implied - but it is on the rise, it does happen, and I can
understand someone being very burned over it.

(Incidentally, if this is the case I think it is, I'd have no problems
with what he's requesting - just say "born 1978" or whatever. But
other sites, which we link to, have the full date...)

--
- Andrew Gray
  andrew.gray at dunelm.org.uk