When asked for my mother's maiden name in such circumstances, I make up a ficticious
name. It's one more thing to keep up with (you don't want to forget what name you
used, so you need to record it somewhere - maybe in a "Top Secret" Word
document...), but it's worth the extra effort to maintain your privacy. The name
really only serves as a reference if you forget your user name/password, so the accuracy
doesn't matter. This is probably not much help after the fact, but something you
might consider doing in the future. Good luck!
Melanie
----- Original Message -----
From: R1L1hahn(a)aol.com
To: CAGLE-L(a)rootsweb.com
Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 4:36 PM
Subject: Opinion on personal information on websites
A few months ago, we found out that some one had used our credit card number
to get several thousand dollars worth of computer equipment. We finally got
this amount taken off of our bill but in checking with the credit card
company, we found out that whoever obtained our credit card number, also knew
my mother's maiden name which is the password for use on many accounts. I
have wondered if the person responsible for this illegal charge, had gotten
the password information they needed from finding websites that had that
information on it. At least two people I have shared some family information
with, posted this information, without my permission, on their websites.
I think that no one should include the first names and birthdates of living
people on websites that are open to view to anyone that wants to look at
them.
Lynda West Hahn
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