FiL wants all our data

[HighlandCowSaysBooNotMoo]

My father in law works in a government role.
Today he put a message in the family WhatsApp group asking if we could send him our addresses, d.o.bs, mothers maiden names, our place of birth, our address history, previous maiden names etc.
Apparently he needs this info from his 4 adult children, their spouses (me included) , his own siblings and his siblings spouses, grandchildren, his in laws etc. Basically he is covering every member of the family and spouses etc over the age of 18.
He has put something light hearted about it being needed for an enhanced security check that he's been told he needs for his job.
He is not changing jobs or position in the company. He has been in this job for since my husband was a wee kid!!
A couple of people have responded straight away with their data.
DH says IABU not to share mine with his dad
What do I do?

no way!

I am in a job with security clearance and even when subjected to an audit all 3rd party personal data were handled by an independent provider.

Everyone tetchy about sharing this information. 192.com publicly shares your previous addresses (unless you've specifically asked them to remove them). Ancestry.com holds ALL your family tree. You don't even need to have shared your information, a curious family genaeologist will have done this for you.

Got a linked in profile with the year you left school/uni and the name of both institutions on there?

Got social media and share photos of your street and house front or local dog walk?

All this information is already out there.

Was he going to say , yes indeed I'm a spy?

We have a family member who works for the foriegn office and had to provide the family member similar information. I never heard anything from the foreign office directly. I have no idea if the foreign office looked into me but family member still works there so we must have passed!

To all the posters kicking off about this….this vetting will ultimately be done with or without your consent!

Completely normal for security clearance jobs. They require this data from anyone the job holder/applicant has regular contact with and they DO ask the job holder/applicant to provide it, they do not reach out to people themselves.

When DH was working in a role that required clearance, we had to provide that from entire family plus closest friends. Pretty much anyone he was regularly in touch with.

Just occurred to me they’d have a problem with checking my dads side as my dad and his siblings births were never registered.
They’d have to trawl Irelands churches for baptismal records to find them all.
Wonder if people living here from other countries have similar issues.

I had to do this for my stepson, his firm was doing a project for the government. It didn't worry me, I've got a passport, driving licence, pay taxes and shop online so lots of people already know a lot about me.

I think you're right!

Oooh...

Do you avoid loyalty cards by any chance?

I was hoping so 😂

Of course he wouldn't have said anything. He tells me very little and only things that are already in the news so not remotely secret.

My information is on neither 192.com or ancestry.com, and I've never even submitted a removal request. And I have more sense than to share personal information online. I know how incredibly easy it is to dox someone, because people are sloppy with their email addresses, usernames, and sharing their birthday, not to mention photos.

This is why I wouldn't be happy to just hand over my data. I know they'll find it out if they need it. That's their job. But no, my information is not easily accessible online to the average lay person.

My deceased, ex-military. close relative didn't know who his father was (father unknown on birth certificate, and his mother never told him), which caused no end of difficulties for him when it was security clearance time. Yet, I don't think it would have been totally uncommon for the time... (Born in 1941 - so we think it must have been a wartime fling.)

Interesting bit of psychology going on that the vote is almost 70% YANBU

But the comments must surely be pretty much 70% YABU

Maybe it’s because the YANBU voters have no reasonable explanation for how they feel. Data Protection Pearl Clutching in action.

Christ alive people are talking utter Teasdale on this thread about security vetting!

The highest level of vetting in the UK is known as DV - developed vetting.

NOWHERE in this process are you required to provide details of your adult children, their spouses or your grandchildren UNLESS your adult children Co-habit with you.

You only have to provide your current partner, previous marriages, parents, grandparents and your siblings.

and as for giving details of your friends??? Give me strength.

*twaddle

I’m foreign born to the countries I had to get a clearance in. It’s not a quick process at all going through it because foreign influence is a big one they look for, and some countries raise more red flags than others. I had to be interviewed a number of times.

You have to be entirely honest about anything and everything they ask you, because they will know if you’re not. I’ve known people try and hide stupid shit because of embarrassment, but in reality those running the checks have seen and heard it all before. In those cases it’s not what they hid that prevented them getting clearance, but the fact they tried to hide it.

You have give details for 3 people to be interviewed. At least one of those should be from your friendship / peer group. One also has to have known you 10+ years, and one from your workplace.

There are also enhanced DV checks.

Outside of my immediate family I also had to declare anyone from another country that I had a ‘close and continuing’ relationship with. It didn’t matter whether I cohabited with them or not.

In the interview they will ask about wider family relationships, which presumably would include the parents of your son/daughter in law (this part wasn’t relevant to me).

You have give details for 3 people to be interviewed. At least one of those should be from your friendship / peer group. One also has to have known you 10+ years, and one from your workplace.

Yes, contact details for characters references, no need to provide other information such a DOB and these people would not be vetted.

This!
All the 'advice' from people not familiar with the CS or the vetting process is 🙄

Checks on family will be conducted regardless, but relatives refusing to provide info could potentially delay start date (while they dig for the info they need). And/or it's likely to invite even more intensive questioning around family relationships when that stage comes round.

Which when you consider how intrusive DV is already, makes sense- seems natural they'd have questions about the fact a family member the FIL is apparently still in contact with would refuse to provide publicly available information.

If I'd had this problem when I underwent DV, my job start date would've been even more delayed, causing serious financial hardship. Even if FIL is just moving between projects, it could stall this.

*Outside of my immediate family I also had to declare anyone from another country that I had a ‘close and continuing’ relationship with. It didn’t matter whether I cohabited with them or not.

In the interview they will ask about wider family relationships, which presumably would include the parents of your son/daughter in law (this part wasn’t relevant to me).*_
_
Yes, people from other countries, which presumably the OP is not therefore her FIL does not need her information.

and yes, they may ask questions at interview which are usually based on your application responses and the results of checks they have done themselves, but again, this would not be information such as the OPs DOB and address.

If someone calls up and explains how your bank really really needs your pin are you going to hand that over too?

Given the amount of identity theft and fraud going around I am amazed that you think this is pearl clutching! A casual request on WhatsApp for my mothers maiden name would be a 'no thank you' from me. I would think he was having a laugh and testing me.

Like the emails at work where they sign you up to more training if you go and click on the links in the email.

No, they cannot vet the OP without her consent and the process does not require her FIL to provide her information, so either he or someone dealing with his vetting (assuming that is why he wants it) have misunderstood the requirements.

Yes, this information might be necessary for security clearance and no, the employer won’t ask you directly. I understand it’s uncomfortable for you, but this could prevent him from being able to do his job, so YABU I’m afraid! But YANBU for asking him for more details about exactly what he needs and why, which might make you feel more comfortable with providing this info.

asking if we could send him our addresses, d.o.bs, mothers maiden names, our place of birth, our address history, previous maiden names etc.
For a person to be vetted - the mothers maiden name is irrelevant.

Can anyone explain why OP's mothers maiden name is needed as part of OP's details?