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?

Asking for it in a shared whatsapp group doesn't indicate to me that he has a high level of understanding about how to request/handle/store personal data! If that seems ok to you-thats fine-you do you. But it isn't ok to me.

Yeah I’d been really concerned if my in laws and family found out my name, date of birth and address in a what’s app group! Can you imagine the implications 😂

It makes perfect sense to ask everyone at once in what’s app
reply in any format your happy with just because your asked in WhatsApp doesn’t mean you have to reply on it

enough people on here have judged him and written him off as creepy for asking in the first place
fuck me a private message or call off him asking you’d here the screams from space

I’d reply on what’s app as this information is in the public domain any to anyone will the skills and patience to look for it

No, the friends and family of the person being vetted don't have a right to ask what the job is as they literally can't be told. Anyone who answers "yes, I am a spy" when being asked isn't a spy.

@justteanbiscuits 🤣🤣

Yes, an actual spy is hardly going to say that they’re the real life equivalent of James Bond!

My understanding is that people with top security clearance can never tell their families anything about their work, even if it was 30 years ago. Not even their spouses.

IRL, I believe I may have met an actual spy, but I’m never going to know. All I’ll say is that they were the polar opposite of sexy film portrayals, which is probably far more effective at blending in. 😜

Like I said, you do you. However-if I was going to ask people-family or friends-for information I would speak to them personally either f2f or on the phone, as a matter of courtesy. It would also enable anyone being requested to provide their personal info to ask questions about the reason etc. Maybe thats just me-but I think a request of that nature demands more than a group WhatsApp message🤷🏼‍♀️.

"IRL, I believe I may have met an actual spy, but I’m never going to know. All I’ll say is that they were the polar opposite of sexy film portrayals, which is probably far more effective at blending in. "

That made me LOL so hard!! 😆

See, I would message on the family whatsapp, and those that wanted to reply 1:1 would do so, those who wanted to phone me with the info would do, and those you didn't mind sharing it with their family would do so. But, it seems, I married into a lovely, caring family that don't wear tin foil hats.

They wanted same stuff off me . He is doing new type of work within the department probably. These are standard security questions . You are perfectly at liberty to refuse him the info. They will just take longer to get the information and he will not do the job they are maybe wanting him for till they complete his checks to their satisfaction. Bearing in mind he has been there a long time they may have already got the information anyway but forms have to be completed and checked .

But you do sound rather defensive about this subject! Why try to insult my family by calling them tin foil hatters (they're not)? You sound quite an angry person based on your replies, and not able to accept that some of us do things differently from you & yours. My family are caring and helpful too-but I like to treat them with respect. And I dont need to insult your family in order to do so. I think we have said all we need to on this. Please just accept that I do things differently from you and that you & yours aren't better/warmer/more helpful than me & mine.

The voting at the top of this thread is really depressing. It doesn't say much for the intelligence* and general awareness of the average mumsnetter.

*no pun intended

I'm pleased you have time to ring all the family members you would need to speak to.

Not angry just very eye rolling at half of this thread!! From very incorrect information, to a lot of very misleading information to people quite happy to slow down the OP's FIL's start on probably a new project.

Luckily, there are plenty of people giving out correct information who actually know the answer and have experience of it. But so many just making it up and declaring there is NO WAY they would give a beloved father in law fairly basic information. I find it pretty sad.

Oh. And also bored sat in a teams meeting no one else has turned up to so killing time.

Ok. Bored with this now. Bye, and have a nice afternoon.

I work for the civil service and I had to go through a similar process a few years ago when they suddenly decided that I needed to have enhanced security clearance for a job I'd been doing for the last 15 years.

It's genuinely nothing sinister, it's just to determine he's not associated with any 'dodgy' characters that could be using him for nefarious purposes.

I also wouldn't read too much into the timing of it. Government policy is changing all the time and various jobs drop in and out of needing enhanced security checks all the time. As I said, I'd been doing the job for 15 years before they decided my role needed one.

Out of interest, what nefarious purpose do you think these details of yours (which the Government already hold in various guises) will be used for?

@bemusedmoose you are talking such complete and utter rubbish

Strewth. There are some seriously paranoid/ naive/ ignorant/ misinformed people on this thread! I am shocked.

What the OP’s FIL has asked for is v v normal part of gov security checks. He just could have been clearer & more sensitive in the way he asked for the information.

If he needs DV clearance then yes he will need all that information. Completely normal for those roles.

It's quite clear that, given the advances in technology and the methods that scammers employ, they need a new system. I don't voluntarily hand out that information and I'd imagine a lot of people who are privacy/security minded wouldn't.

It's unreasonable for the gov to tell the public on the one hand to be extra cautious with their data while on the other telling them they must hand over data for someone else to progress in their career. It's the exact thing that could be easily exploited by a scammer. Combined with a little social engineering and your bank account is wiped or your identity stolen.

Government needs to keep up with the times and adopt a new method of obtaining this information if it's so necessary.

People with genuine involvement in sneaky-beaky stuff NEVER talk about it. My uncle was in SAS (left just before the Falklands War), if you ever try and ask him about it he just changes the subject. He's 78 years old now, wouldn't say boo to a goose. My dad says he remembers times when his brother disappeared for months on end without saying anything about where he was off to, and barring an occasional "I'm alright mum" postcard sent home, they had no idea when he'd be back or what he'd been up to.

Now pilots on the other hand, let's just say there's a RAF saying - "How do you know if a man is a fighter pilot? Don't worry, he'll tell you!"

I believe I know a spy but obviously I'm not going to ask her (anyway I like the intrigue)

I have just always found it hard to believe that a woman with a double first from Cambridge in French and Arabic has gone to work in the civil service shuffling some kind of paperwork for the health department. Anyway she'd make a great spy - everyone wants to talk to her and she's really really good at making you feel listened to in at least 3 languages

My late steo father always joked he was a cleaner at GCHQ. It was only when he died suddenly we found out that he was much more than that.
I suppose it was unlikely that the cleaner spoke 7 languages including Mandarin, Afrikaans and Arabic!

When my mum married him, we were all positively vetted including my grandmother in deepest darkest wales.

When a friend, who I regard as a brother, worked for the 'weasels' as he refers to them, I had to answer all sorts of intrusive questions as a referee-type of thing, including questions all about his sex life!

@CaveMum
Having worked on an RAF base, that video is very true!

My DH used to work on a UK military base. He had to be vetted for security clearance in this way & so did his colleagues. He was interviewed about one of his colleagues by a member of the security team. They asked my DH ‘Is (colleague) gay?’ My husband trying to be funny quipped ‘No, but all his friends are’. Fortunately he got across that he was just being facetious. Btw this was about 30 years ago, when being gay in a high security role (particularly if not publicly ‘out’) was considered a potential security / blackmail risk.

It's not about "handling or storing personal data", he's just a family member. Like all of us, he'll have addresses and birthdays written in random places - address books, notes, emails, calendar entries. I keep a note of birth dates on the fridge - can I be sued for GDPR breach? No. Because I'M NOT A DATA CONTROLLER.

This is just a member of the family ensuring he has the right information to fill in his security check form.

Yes, the people he passes it to are data controllers, have to comply with the law and have a privacy notice. But the father in law does not have to do that.

Well if they want my data, they need to ask for it in a more professional way, and not through what's app. If a government department are updating someones security clearance. That department needs to email me from an official email, and attach an official from. No way am I giving all these details on what's app. Its 2023 for goodness sake.

That’s not how it works. Maybe it shouldn’t work the way it does but at present, there is no facility to ‘attach an official form from an official email’. Bearing that in mind, are you saying you are willing to risk a family member’s job so as not to give him information that multiple government departments already have?