5 ms·

I have a very common name too... I was an inch away to be denied a loan for my house because there was this guy with my same name, surname and date of birth tha

I have a very common name too... I was an inch away to be denied a loan for my house because there was this guy with my same name, surname and date of birth that was in the CRIF (a sort of registry for people with very low credit score here in Italy). I know the feeling. And while we all agree about the fact the child porn should be stopped and people should go to jail for it, apparently "what happens on your iPhone stays on your iPhone" only until Apple says so. https://twitter.com/chrisvelazco/status/1081330848262062080 https://twitter.com/chrisvelazco/status/1081330848262062080

GordonS 5y ago
I don't think my name is particularly common, but I got stopped while going through immigration in Australia a while back, and was quizzed in a private room by 2 men in black suits for quite a while - who I was, why I was there, who I worked for, that kind of thing. In the end, they thanked me for cooperating (they were actually quite friendly and polite in general, not like going I to the US, for example) and explained that they were looking for someone with the same name as me.
DoubleGlazing 5y ago
I have an unusual, hard to spell surname. One time when I lived in the UK I found it hard to open a new bank account. After a bit of investigating I found out that I had been placed on the Credit Industry Fraud Avoidance System because different spelling of my name had been used in previous applications. This was seen as an attempt to get past credit checking, in reality the people entering my name in to their systems mis-spelled/mis-typed my name. As a result of someones carelessness I was flagged as being risky.
systemvoltage 5y ago
Re: Twitter image link - This is why you should never ever trust any corporation and their marketing BS. PASS LAWS INSTEAD.
- zimpenfish 5y ago
  > PASS LAWS INSTEAD. Do you suppose any government is going to pass laws which prohibits companies from scanning photos for CSAM either on-device or in the cloud? When half the time it's being done at the insistence of those self same governments?
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
andruby 5y ago
I know this isn't the answer, but I am happy to have a globally unique name. I was lucky to have not one but two uncommon surnames. (grandmother remarried, children got an extra surname). There are only a dozen people with that combination of surnames.
- kaszanka 5y ago
  > There are only a dozen people with that combination of surnames. How can you be sure of that?
  - mathieuh 5y ago
    I'm the only person in the UK with my sequence of names, they told me so when I was getting my covid jab and didn't have my NHS number on me so they had to find me by name and match to my photo ID. French immigrant mother so French first name and middle name, and then an uncommon British (Welsh I think, dad's parents didn't learn English until they got to secondary school) second name.
  - mkotowski 5y ago
    I have no idea how it works in other countries, but in Poland there are publicly accessible `.csv` files with data about names and surnames in the PESEL system (the ID assigned to people with Polish citizenship) since its creation. A double surname would be marked as a separate entry. If something like this exists in other countries, checking the rarity of a combination of surnames would be quite easy.
    - dom96 5y ago
      Do you have a link to these? I'm curious if my name is unique
      - kaszanka 5y ago
        You can download the CSV's here: https://dane.gov.pl/pl/dataset/1681,nazwiska-osob-zyjacych-wystepujace-w-rejestrze-pesel https://dane.gov.pl/pl/dataset/1681,nazwiska-osob-zyjacych-w.... For the benefit of non-Polish-speakers: - Nazwiska - surnames - żeńskie - female - męskie - male
himinlomax 5y ago
Had the same problem in France. It resolved shortly, in a few days, but the bank cancelled my credit card, without warning, on a Friday. I have one of the most common first name along with one of the most common last names. There are thousands of people with the same name as I. The guy who was on the no-banking-list was not the same age, wasn't born or lived in the same city, everything else was different.
xanathar 5y ago
I'm also Italian. My dad shared the name and surname with somebody with shady background who incidentally lived close to our house. He was denied an operation at the bank once, but was quickly able to clarify the issue and unblock it (probably he got lucky). But he had to have himself removed from the white pages and the ring label (ring label? whatever, il citofono :D) because of violent threats.
- tremon 5y ago
  was quickly able to clarify the issue and unblock it This is a major part of the problem with algorithms: what if the issue is "computer says no" and that's the most detailed explanation you can get?
  - hectormalot 5y ago
    Regulators are aware and are creating rules to prevent this. For example, the upcoming EU AI law requires companies to provide a detailed explanation for eg credit scoring if requested.
specialist 5y ago
Use of casual (non-GUID) identifiers will result in namespace collisions. Casual identifiers have to be stored as plaintext. To facilitate record matching (linking) across data stores. The only way to enable full field level encryption for data at rest is to issue everyone GUIDs. If we're not willing to do that, for whatever reason, the status quo (a boring dystopia) will persist. cite: Translucent Databases

GordonS 5y ago

I don't think my name is particularly common, but I got stopped while going through immigration in Australia a while back, and was quizzed in a private room by 2 men in black suits for quite a while - who I was, why I was there, who I worked for, that kind of thing. In the end, they thanked me for cooperating (they were actually quite friendly and polite in general, not like going I to the US, for example) and explained that they were looking for someone with the same name as me.

DoubleGlazing 5y ago

I have an unusual, hard to spell surname. One time when I lived in the UK I found it hard to open a new bank account. After a bit of investigating I found out that I had been placed on the Credit Industry Fraud Avoidance System because different spelling of my name had been used in previous applications. This was seen as an attempt to get past credit checking, in reality the people entering my name in to their systems mis-spelled/mis-typed my name. As a result of someones carelessness I was flagged as being risky.

systemvoltage 5y ago

Re: Twitter image link - This is why you should never ever trust any corporation and their marketing BS. PASS LAWS INSTEAD.

zimpenfish 5y ago
> PASS LAWS INSTEAD. Do you suppose any government is going to pass laws which prohibits companies from scanning photos for CSAM either on-device or in the cloud? When half the time it's being done at the insistence of those self same governments?
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

andruby 5y ago

I know this isn't the answer, but I am happy to have a globally unique name. I was lucky to have not one but two uncommon surnames. (grandmother remarried, children got an extra surname). There are only a dozen people with that combination of surnames.

kaszanka 5y ago
> There are only a dozen people with that combination of surnames. How can you be sure of that?
- mathieuh 5y ago
  I'm the only person in the UK with my sequence of names, they told me so when I was getting my covid jab and didn't have my NHS number on me so they had to find me by name and match to my photo ID. French immigrant mother so French first name and middle name, and then an uncommon British (Welsh I think, dad's parents didn't learn English until they got to secondary school) second name.
- mkotowski 5y ago
  I have no idea how it works in other countries, but in Poland there are publicly accessible `.csv` files with data about names and surnames in the PESEL system (the ID assigned to people with Polish citizenship) since its creation. A double surname would be marked as a separate entry. If something like this exists in other countries, checking the rarity of a combination of surnames would be quite easy.
  - dom96 5y ago
    Do you have a link to these? I'm curious if my name is unique
    - kaszanka 5y ago
      You can download the CSV's here: https://dane.gov.pl/pl/dataset/1681,nazwiska-osob-zyjacych-wystepujace-w-rejestrze-pesel https://dane.gov.pl/pl/dataset/1681,nazwiska-osob-zyjacych-w.... For the benefit of non-Polish-speakers: - Nazwiska - surnames - żeńskie - female - męskie - male

himinlomax 5y ago

Had the same problem in France. It resolved shortly, in a few days, but the bank cancelled my credit card, without warning, on a Friday. I have one of the most common first name along with one of the most common last names. There are thousands of people with the same name as I. The guy who was on the no-banking-list was not the same age, wasn't born or lived in the same city, everything else was different.

xanathar 5y ago

I'm also Italian. My dad shared the name and surname with somebody with shady background who incidentally lived close to our house. He was denied an operation at the bank once, but was quickly able to clarify the issue and unblock it (probably he got lucky). But he had to have himself removed from the white pages and the ring label (ring label? whatever, il citofono :D) because of violent threats.

tremon 5y ago
was quickly able to clarify the issue and unblock it This is a major part of the problem with algorithms: what if the issue is "computer says no" and that's the most detailed explanation you can get?
- hectormalot 5y ago
  Regulators are aware and are creating rules to prevent this. For example, the upcoming EU AI law requires companies to provide a detailed explanation for eg credit scoring if requested.

specialist 5y ago

Use of casual (non-GUID) identifiers will result in namespace collisions. Casual identifiers have to be stored as plaintext. To facilitate record matching (linking) across data stores. The only way to enable full field level encryption for data at rest is to issue everyone GUIDs. If we're not willing to do that, for whatever reason, the status quo (a boring dystopia) will persist. cite: Translucent Databases