Currently we are in the Identity Fraud Awareness Week which is about increasing people's awareness regarding Identity Fraud which is on the increase and has the potential to affect many New Zealanders. Some figures indicate that New Zealanders are careless with information about their identity with an estimated 78% disposing of information with identity information in an inappropriate way. We have seen programmes on TV highlighting the insecurity of information on the social network facities such as Facebook and the trusting manner in which people reveal information about themselves. I do think that New Zealanders by nature are trusting and that is a characteristic developed over 200 years in a country that for most of that time was relatively isolated. This isolation does not exist today in the electronic world and we need to be more careful about protecting our personal identity, more questioning as to why organisations need the personal information they are asking for, and ensuring that when collected the information is protected in an appropriate manner.
Just recently I was amazed at the information that one organisation required and all I was doing was parking my car for an extended period. I said to my wife, I cannot understand what they require all that information for except of course to make it easier when you next booked the facility or of course provide benefits in the future for consistent use. I also wondered at how that information would be stored and who has access to it as the security measures in place to protect that information is critically important to the protection of personal identity.
We all need to be more conscious about protecting our personal identity.
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