Christopher S. Penn – Marketing AI Keynote Speaker

Why it’s not really my birthday

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by

Christopher S Penn
in ,
Warning: this content is older than 365 days. It may be out of date and no longer relevant.

Why it's not really my birthday 1

More than a few people were posting birthday wishes this morning as soon as I logged on. That’s very kind of everyone, and I appreciate it… but it’s not my birthday.

Facebook is telling you that October 23 is my birthday. Twitter will tell you it’s October 19. Other social networks will report other dates. It’s not. It’s relatively close to my birthday, but not in fact my birthday. I use these online in lots of places because it’s convenient, easy to remember, and most importantly, it allows me to know which companies online have compromised my privacy based on who starts sending me birthday offers, etc.

The Holy Trinity of Identity Theft

Date of birth is one of the holy trinity of identity fraud. Name, date of birth, and social security number will get you VERY far as an identity thief. Combine it with an address, and you’ve got just about everything you need. It’s also a highly-prized piece of marketing data.

Do you trust social networking companies like Facebook to not resell your information, or to have their databases compromised by hackers? I certainly don’t, especially given recent privacy breaches. I wholly expect them to compromise my privacy and then cite some obscure clause buried deep in the terms of service that allows them to do so. I trade with them. You can compromise my online privacy and resell my data, and in return, I’ll give you bad data. We’re both happy that way, and chances are your marketing partners won’t know the difference anyway.

Is it my intent to deceive my online friends? Not at all. It’s to deceive the companies that aggregate personal data online – including the major social networking services. Hence, thanks to everyone for the UnBirthday wishes.

What are YOU telling data aggregators?

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Comments

29 responses to “Why it’s not really my birthday”

  1. Len Edgerly Avatar
    Len Edgerly

    Can you say which sites you’ve caught sharing your birthday data? How can you tell?

    Reply
  2. Len Edgerly Avatar
    Len Edgerly

    Can you say which sites you’ve caught sharing your birthday data? How can you tell?

    Reply
  3. AJ Avatar
    AJ

    Please do tell, I would love to know how you can tell as well!

    Reply
  4. AJ Avatar
    AJ

    Please do tell, I would love to know how you can tell as well!

    Reply
  5. Christopher S. Penn Avatar
    Christopher S. Penn

    I’ve gotten some suspicious birthday messages for October 2, which is the date on my MySpace profile. October 1 is Facebook. Keep a sheet of sites with slightly different dates. I also use two letter codes for my middle initial for sites when registering if possible – i.e. Christopher MS Penn, Christopher FB Penn, etc.

    Reply
  6. Christopher S. Penn Avatar
    Christopher S. Penn

    I’ve gotten some suspicious birthday messages for October 2, which is the date on my MySpace profile. October 1 is Facebook. Keep a sheet of sites with slightly different dates. I also use two letter codes for my middle initial for sites when registering if possible – i.e. Christopher MS Penn, Christopher FB Penn, etc.

    Reply
  7. sylvain grandmaison Avatar
    sylvain grandmaison

    Happy birthday whenever it may be. I don’t think it’s the actual day that is important more than the fact that we want to send you wishes.Thanks for sharing your birthday and name strategies with us.

    Reply
  8. sylvain grandmaison Avatar
    sylvain grandmaison

    Happy birthday whenever it may be. I don’t think it’s the actual day that is important more than the fact that we want to send you wishes.Thanks for sharing your birthday and name strategies with us.

    Reply
  9. Wililam Spaetzel Avatar
    Wililam Spaetzel

    Well happy Un-Birthday! And best wishes when your real birthday rolls around.

    Reply
  10. Wililam Spaetzel Avatar
    Wililam Spaetzel

    Well happy Un-Birthday! And best wishes when your real birthday rolls around.

    Reply
  11. Phillip Avatar
    Phillip

    Nice. Very clever.

    Reply
  12. Phillip Avatar
    Phillip

    Nice. Very clever.

    Reply
  13. David Beaudouin Avatar
    David Beaudouin

    Smart tracking techniques–I use different names as well. Whenever your birthday is, have a good one!

    Reply
  14. David Beaudouin Avatar
    David Beaudouin

    Smart tracking techniques–I use different names as well. Whenever your birthday is, have a good one!

    Reply
  15. Art Vandelay Avatar
    Art Vandelay

    Great tips. Take it a step further, I’d say, and start using the SSN of that guy from LifeLock, the one who has a 1MM identity fraud guarantee.

    I did the same sort of thing with any site that requires SSN — which, btw, it’s technically illegal to use for anything other than social security data.

    Reply
  16. Art Vandelay Avatar
    Art Vandelay

    Great tips. Take it a step further, I’d say, and start using the SSN of that guy from LifeLock, the one who has a 1MM identity fraud guarantee.

    I did the same sort of thing with any site that requires SSN — which, btw, it’s technically illegal to use for anything other than social security data.

    Reply
  17. Nico Avatar
    Nico

    Clever 🙂

    Reply
  18. Being Amber Rhea » Blog Archive » links for 2007-10-01

    […] Awaken Your Superhero with Christopher S. Penn » Post Topic » Why it’s not really my birthday “Date of birth is one of the holy trinity of identity fraud. Name, date of birth, and social security number will get you VERY far as an identity thief.” Seems to me like the better thing to do is not give out your full street address. (tags: interesting identitytheft tech internet) […]

    Reply
  19. Nico Avatar
    Nico

    Clever 🙂

    Reply
  20. Dave Delaney Avatar
    Dave Delaney

    Ha! Nice one Chris. Very smart. I was wondering too, because I didn't see your birthday listed in Facebook, yet I saw messages wishing you a happy birthday. I was curious what was going on, but not curious enough to research the *real* birthday of Mr. Christopher S. Penn – if that IS your real name! 🙂

    I think I'm going to start referring to you as Christopher “Keyser Söze” Penn.

    Reply
  21. Dave Delaney Avatar
    Dave Delaney

    Ha! Nice one Chris. Very smart. I was wondering too, because I didn't see your birthday listed in Facebook, yet I saw messages wishing you a happy birthday. I was curious what was going on, but not curious enough to research the *real* birthday of Mr. Christopher S. Penn – if that IS your real name! 🙂

    I think I'm going to start referring to you as Christopher “Keyser Söze” Penn.

    Reply
  22. My Birthday is Today | Dave Delaney – Community Enthusiast, Social Media Strategist and Humorist

    […] happened earlier in the year when I sent birthday wishes to Chris Penn. As it turned out he had a fake birth date in his Facebook profile […]

    Reply
  23. Steve Sherlock Avatar
    Steve Sherlock

    Chris, that's a good reason. Then take my wishes for a happy birthday today for whenever it really is! It is the wish that counts no matter the day.

    Reply
  24. Steve Sherlock Avatar
    Steve Sherlock

    Chris, that's a good reason. Then take my wishes for a happy birthday today for whenever it really is! It is the wish that counts no matter the day.

    Reply
  25. conniecrosby Avatar
    conniecrosby

    Awesome. I do the exact same thing, and advise others to do this as well. Happy birthday, whenever it is (was)!

    Reply
  26. conniecrosby Avatar
    conniecrosby

    Awesome. I do the exact same thing, and advise others to do this as well. Happy birthday, whenever it is (was)!

    Reply
  27. conniecrosby Avatar
    conniecrosby

    Awesome. I do the exact same thing, and advise others to do this as well. Happy birthday, whenever it is (was)!

    Reply
  28. Christine Green Avatar
    Christine Green

    Chris,
    I hear you. I do the same thing but on Facebook they have my real birthday. I’m too attached to the wishes and celebration…and love sending wishes to my FB friends. I’m sure our sentimental ways are leaving us open to exploitation. That’s too bad.

    I enjoy your contribution to Six Pixels/Media Hacks podcast. Thanks!

    Reply
  29. Five for Friday 10.29.10 | Strategic thoughts on using social media and public relations in business from Jeff Esposito

    […] Why it’s not really my birthday – One of the things that I never considered with my social media profiles was adding in my birthday. It was easy and hey, folks could remember the date I popped into the world. What I didn’t think about was that with all of the personal data that is given out on these sites, it makes it very easy for a scammer or identity thief to do their job. This is a brilliant piece that I suggest you peep out from Chris Penn. […]

    Reply

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