Share your thoughts on identity related topics - chance to win £250! NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

The internet has provided us with many wonderful opportunities. We can discover and learn, meet potential partners, we can buy and sell things to other people, turn to peers for advice, book holidays, read our favourite magazines, manage our finances, and so on. Unfortunately the systems and tools we use to make our lives easier are easily misused by people with the wrong intentions. We read headlines of dating scams, online fraud, people creating fake profiles, and children accessing age restricted content.

We can use our phones to make payments from our bank accounts, but not prove who we are. We still have to photocopy and email our passports to prove our identities to get things done like rent a flat, which simply doesn’t make sense. The list goes on and on…

Mumsnet partner, Yoti, have created a secure ID app which helps people prove their identity, online and in person - and are on a mission to fix the identity related issues that aren't right and don’t make sense. If you’d like to read more about how they secure your data and plan to make proving your identity simpler, faster and safer, please visit www.yoti.com.

Yoti would like to hear your views on some identity related topics - have a look at them below - and if your answer is defined by aspects such as past experience, the age of your children or your work then please add that into your post. Of course, there's no right or wrong answers and all views are welcome.

Example Topics:

• Age restricted content is open to anyone online (for example anyone - whatever their age can access all sorts of content with no restrictions)
• Online personas can't be trusted (for example - it's easy to pose as someone older or younger when interacting with other people online)
• Cost of fraud is more than the NHS budget (£144bn more money is lost each year to online fraud in the UK than spent on the NHS)
• We need to show numerous paper documents (e.g. a utility bill and two different types of ID document) just to access a new service

Add your comment and you will be entered into a prize draw where one winner will get a £250 John Lewis voucher

thanks and good luck!
MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

Ok - this is a biggie for me -Internet security and the kind of information that is available to everyone is scary. At a local school with an 'Internet Nanny' installed a clever young boy pointed out to the IT teacher that the Internet Nanny was flawed insofar as he could access ANY images he wanted. He showed his teacher how by putting in .AU or other country endings he was able to bring up some rather 'naughty' photographs....

Hmmm...I'm not sure how trusting I would be off any app like this tbh. I think it sounds great but I think its always best to be cautious when it comes to the internet.

I can't believe how much is lost on fraud! I have had my identity stolen and very unpleasant it was too.

We are constantly being told that online banking, shopping, contactless payment etc are totally safe and then guess what some company gets hacked and we find they are not so safe afterall

Online personnas can't be trusted - it's very sad that life is like this but it is. I worry about my children growing up with the threat of people on the Internet and xbox pretending to be someone who they are not so I welcome Yoti and hope it can help.us all for a safer world.

It is easy to forget not everyone is as honest as you! It shocks me the amount of money lost to fraud

I had my amazon account hacked recently - email changes so i couldn't log in. Got it unlocked with a bit of security checking with amazon, amazingly nothing was bought and the giftcard credit i had sitting in my account remained intact. Bad experience but with a positive outcome.

Still don't know how it happened, must have been someone getting hold of usernames/passwords from one of the many hacks there's been recently.

I've been quite blase about fraud and identity theft as most fishing attempts are pretty obvious that they aren't legit, but everyone has to stay vigilant.

ID theft and fraud is rife, and we all need to take responsibility for what we post online. Being careful about using up-to-date anti virus software and what we post online, is essential.

The government, financial institutions and ISPs also bear responsibiliity. It is inexcusble these days that banks can be hacked and customers' details compromised; ISPs should also deal with the constant barage of spam that floods our email inboxes.

Governments need to get tough and create stronger laws about those who attempt to defraud us.

I had a look at the Yoti website and app, but just wondered what would happen if we lost our phone or had it stolen? Could this give potential fraudsters more information?

"We need to show numerous paper documents (e.g. a utility bill and two different types of ID document) just to access a new service"

I agree with this, but would feel reluctant to provide ID details in case they were lost or stolen.

I'm quite interested in an app that proves identity. I've had to do it so much recently that I'm getting bored with the faff.

I'm not very interested in the issue of 'NHS costs/fraud costs'. In fact, following the whole 'Brexit bus' fiasco, that really turns me off. Please don't use that in your marketing - I'll bet I'm not alone!

Document-based identity-proving is a faff - but I guess people find it reassuring.

Accessing non-age appropriate information on-line does bother me a bit. The current means of restricting internet access seem to be a bit blunt at the moment. We ended up removing them because it just seemed to make access to useful and legitimate sites/info. tricky.

How will you avoid people faking and identity through your app? Genuine question.

How do you weed them out? Fake identities, companies etc. It's so widespread you cant police it. The big worry is crime. Everything from stealing money to child abuse. My kids are into gaming and I am concerned about their interaction with other gamers not being who they say they are. Is facial recognition the way ahead to prevent false online identities or is it, as some think, a step closer to Big Brother. Such a complex and difficult area to even understand, and it widens every day.

Any security measures put in place by man can be ovecome by man - perhaps the only safe things are retina and finger print recognition and similar.

My son is currently studying for a degree in cyber security, so he gives us lots of tips on how to keep safe online. It is worrying how much information people can find from what is online. My brother once told me he knew my username on a forum I used (I'd never told him I used the forum), because he happened to Google something family related and knew immediately from a post I'd written on the subject, that it was me. While I don't mind my brother knowing this, it did worry me that I was so easily identifiable to others.

Absolutely believe it's so easy to fabricate a person online and in that instance be provided with a perfect opportunity to fraud someone out of money, being a mum of three I tend to see a lot of people posing online as sellers of high end children's items like high priced named proms selling them for silly amounts but always being too far away from buyer to collect, they then offer a postage price, get the money and then they are gone, this kind is the worst in my eyes, taking parents money they have potential saved hard to buy their child the best, only to be taken advantage of and stolen from. I believe a LOT more needs to be done to prevent these fraudsters.

can never trust anyone online.

I never trust an online persona, too many fakes and dodgy people out there and I will warn my children of this too.

Showing bills is a pain for us as we are an army family who move every 2 years so we keep our banking under our parents address - this has often caused us issues. We do have lockdown on our SM content though and are really careful with our paperwork rubbish

Online fraud is a huge issue, I recently had someone set up a studio account in my name with all my details on, still have no idea how they got all my details but I suppose with a catalogue style account all they would have needed is an email, name and address. My partner was looking at getting our passports sorted ready for hopefully our first holiday abroad with the kids next year and apparently we can now renew online cutting out all the faffing with going through the post office etc which seemed a tad strange but I haven't looked into in myself properly yet

Whilst it would be great to cut out the need for having to show paper forms of ID, I would be really concerned at the security of this app. Everything is hackable, so how secure can it really be?

We just need to move to finger print i.d. That will solve a lot of things. I can do it on my phone, my banking app etc - I can't be too far away until there is some sort of end to end verification where you know the person calling is legit and they know you are using technology. Nothing will be 100% secure though and people do need to question at every step - if they are legitimate they won't mind.

I have been duped enough time to now learn not everyone is who they say they are. Even meeting them face to face once doesn't validate them but rather meeting mutual friends or community is the only way I trust anyone now. :(

Age restricted content needs to be monitored asap I think, most people that want to view something or do somethings that requires you to be a certain age should have no issues providing ID.

Rather annoying to be told I couldn't be given information about my late brother whose estate I was responsible for sorting out, because of data protection. It's used as a catch-all excusea nd isn't relevant after death,

'Online personas can't be trusted'... and I'm not sure I'd trust a secure online ID check system either. It all seems hackable nowadays.
I had someone impersonate me on Facebook so I know how bad things can get.

it is very easy to overcome age related restrictions anyway. its literally chcking a box to say your over the age of 18. Who actually checks?!