AIBU to be amazed at people posting this on Facebook

Illegal immigrants are far less likely to commit identity fraud on you (or figure out your passwords from these posts) than your fellow brits ?

But yes it is stupid to publish those details

It does seem as if the message about protecting ones data is being lost on some people using social media. There will always be scammers when people are careless with their information.
I don't do FB anymore. It became toxic to me and my mental health suffered.
It's wonderful to be free from it.
But each to their own. Just be wise and safe ?

People use birthdates as passwords. Perhaps that is what the scammers are after.

grumppa ooooOOOoooH! Thank you! Biggest laugh in ages! You are a gem!

I’m on Facebook but wary of what I put in there. Date of birth is wrong, email is only for that site, never put pix of anyone but me on there. But it can be a useful tool to contact people. Arrange things. Messenger particularly. Local neighbourhood group has also been helpful in finding services, getting updates on council’s antics etc.

At first I thought you were going to say they were asking funny and too personal questions - mumsnet sometimes say hilarious things on these subjects!

However asking for "full name of child, date of birth, place of birth etc." sounds like something weird and unsafe is going on to me. Why do people want to know? It's not interesting is it? If you want to find out what were the most popular names one year or another that's easily googled.

This is a bit sinister. What is worse, the mums are giving their infants' personal data to anyone who wants to steal it one day. Crazy! You really need to be aware of what you say on the internet. This information will stay there for the rest of those children' lives. Identity theft is real. I'm not being paranoid.
There is advice online. Off the top of my head I can only remember Barry Trower who worked for the Government on classified info concerning microwaves, talking about how youngsters need to be aware of what they write on social media because apparently, it is monitored and if they look into certain types of career later it will be thrown back at them.

Ooh you are not being U. Definitely a no to publishing details like that - only in closed family group page.

Myym

You obvs don't read. I wrote that FB is the sickness, not the people using it however, for many, I maintain that it's something they can't do without. The knowing everything about everyone which can be used against them when the wind changes, the likes, the faux friendships.
How any one, of even minimum intellect, can be offended by that I have no idea but feel free...

I rarely use FB and have activated as many privacy controls as it allows me to. I have even ensured that I can't be face-tagged by others on FB, but they still use my name and keywords in my messages for targeted advertising which I do not want.

If you switch off as many adverts as you can you just get untargeted advertising. It's the income from advertising that makes them so rich.

Here's a link with instructions about activating the privacy controls. If the link below doesn't work just copy and paste it into your browser:

www.digitalspy.com/tech/feature/a552990/how-do-i-make-my-facebook-profile-private/

Not just FB
Why should Damart need to know my exact d-o-b when I attempted to buy knickers from them? I got the response that they would NOT supply me if I did not fill that section in.
Son said I should have lied. I responded to the firm that my age had nothing to do with my size in knickers

GabriellaG,

I fully understood what you were saying.

Shame that you couldn't be bothered to read my statement in its entirety or you would have realised that I DID state that social media, which to me at least, includes FB does have its faults.
I am in no way blinkered into believing that all reunions and reconnections via facebook are for the good and I am fully aware that social media has and will no doubt continue to be, the cause of relationship problems and cause unhappiness to others due to cyber-bullying.

Facebook etc can only cream off the data that the user makes available. Fill in questionnaires about birthdays, schools, work place, then you cannot moan if your information is used.
But, by being sensible then it can be a good forum to connect with the friends that you have chosen to connect with, regardless of where they are in the world with zero cost.
Yes, I am a fb user, very few of my friends/family on my list reside in this country and any private information I wish to share with an individual is done through the private channels.

Like most things in life, some people treat others with respect and courtesy whilst others choose to be the opposite. Regardless of the platform be it social media, literature, face-to-face bullying or the old soap-box in the public square there will always be a section of society that use the methods readily available to criticise, to bully to basically stir the s* for the sheer hell of it.

The crux of what I said in my initial post was that in my opinion your statement was a sweeping generalisation and tarring all users of facebook with the same brush.

But hey, if you want to criticise go ahead...

Whatever my thoughts about FB I think its very unwise to publish the details of minors in this way.

To those anti - fb people, there are privacy settings which restrict who can view your page. But standard common sense would be to avoid giving such personal details as dates and places of birth. Any form.of technology can be misused, it's up to the user to protect themselves.
As for children being stolen from school, does the school not have a policy of only allowing set people collect the children? At my gd school the child has to identify the person collecting them before the teacher will let them go.

MysticalUnion that was extremely lapse of the school imo. When I first collected my grandson I had to give a password until they got to know me. Children in our primary school are only allowed to,go once the collector has been identified.
Hopefully the instance you cite is very rare indeed.

I have heard of small children being collected from school before the parents can get there, even with today's stringent rules on who can collect and who can't. Children have been kidnapped and sold. Yes, sold abroad. I heard recently of a child who this had happened to. Never ever give personal information of a child on FB, and definitely no photographs.

I read the following article about child identity theft recently.

www.cnbc.com/2018/04/24/child-identity-theft-is-a-growing-and-expensive-problem.html

.....So you are not being unreasonable at all!

What I object to as well about Facebook is the incompetence of its algorithms. I have recently been invited to join various vegan groups (me! Vegan???), which I have rejected on the grounds that they are spam. I don't think the algorithm got the joke.

i use facebook. i keep in touch with people in a group i belong to whose members are scattered throughout the country.
and i use it to keep in touch with friends living locally too.
i make sure my security is as tight as it can be so my page isn't accessed by those i don't know.
while i've put in my birthday day and month i haven't included the year i was born. and i only put in the town where i live [and the one i came from].
i'm also part of a couple of groups which were set up when our favourite author died. one of these groups bans all politics and other contraversial posts. the other one very often is used as an "agony aunt" and we've had heart-rending posts from people who have nobody to share their problems with. fortunately most of these "posters" have found advice very useful and have come back to report that they've followed advice/found out information and things are ok again. this group is one of the best on facebook by far.
i rarely look at videos posted by my friends although sometimes i do do the quizzes just for personal satisfaction.
facebook isn't always bad - it can be a source of comfort to some and helps with others' lonliness.

I do use FB as I connect with long distance groups of pals that way . I also post nonsense! I regularly change passwords, prune 'friends' and block sites/posts that come via friends of friends etc. But I agree there are downsides and upsides to all social media...and life in general.

Myym
Let them (fb users) be offended.
I'm not bothered, it's my view.
I note that you haven't put BOTH sides of the picture. The fact that fb creams off your data, the fact that trolling on fb has caused misery to millions and even suicides through keyboard bullying etc...
Relationship break-ups, tittle-tattle et al.
You obviously didn't understand that I was naming FB as the sickness, not the users but then, perhaps you're a user.

Blatant data mining. People can decide to accept it for themselves but they should be much more careful about their children's information. I think there will be a lot of adults asking for photos of them as children to be removed from facebook in the future.

Shortlegs My thought too.

Its like all the competitions which are simply clickbait.

Not Fb but I signed up for free audio books and started to complete the form until it asked for credit card details "to confirm your identity". Left it straight away.

A bit of a leap to illegal immigrants I fancy.

Wow GabriellaG,
Your sweeping statement is offensive to many facebook users imo.

Social media has many faults but it also has some very good aspects to it. Connecting and reuniting friends and family and making the world we live in a smaller place. It can help as a platform to instantly learn of other cultures and countries.
How many missing people or pets have been found through the instantaneous effect of social media? The elderly relative with dementia who has 'gone walkabout' spotted in an area and reunited swiftly and unharmed because the news was circulated on facebook within minutes around the neighbourhood.
Vast sums of money have been raised by people for charity and local issues simply because a person has managed to connect with so many people via facebook who then have a personal choice to give or not to give.
Do I fill out the 'questionnaires' that circulate asking for personal details, or forward the modern day equivalent of a chain letter? Would I announce on social media when I am on holiday so that my house is empty and render my insurance null and void?
No, never! I simply use my integrity and common sense as we all should when faced with anything that could be a scam.
Using gransnet is also a form of social media that is connecting strangers who may inadvertently give away personal details without meaning to....
So in your way of thinking, is that not also an invidious creeping sickness?

EXTREMELY unwise!!! This sounds like the practice of Phishing - and once the details are given then they're out there for good.

No, no, no.