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

People can pose as children, leaving real children vulnerable

I am constantly arguing with companies who phone me asking for info but for data protection will not give me info to check who they are! This must be so much more confusing for the elderly and they need to sort this out.

Online personas can't be trusted (for example - it's easy to pose as someone older or younger when interacting with other people online)

this is something i keep trying to get my teenage nieces to understand, although the same can be said for people in real life too. just because they're right in front of you and seem genuine they can still be pretending to be something they're not

There are some weird people out there, on internet dating, message boards etc, pretending to be someone they're not. We all need to exercise caution, and teach our children to do the same!

Identity fraud is such a big problem, I always think how secure is a site, why do they need so many of my details etc? get my phone then spoof calls.

I really worry about my children online. I find it too easy to access pages only suitable for over 18's.

It's a concerning subject and it seems like fraud and identity theft is on the rise. I had my mobile phone account hacked a few years back and it was a nightmare trying to get it sorted. They added another phone to the account but, luckily, i caught it in time. trying to get the phone company to speak to me was the hardest thing as the fraudsters had changed my address so i was unable to pass data protection over the phone. had to take a day's holiday and go into one of their shops with photo ID.

I think it is a difficult world we live in and know my mum is petrified of her details being stolen online. Meanwhile the younger generation seem to be more savvy and wise to all the scams. Despite our very best efforts at changing passwords etc our credit card has been used by fraudsters twice and it is horrid. I still think paper ID plays an important part in today's world, however inconvenient people find it.

i reveal very little personal info on my social media i don't post pic of my Grandchildren and i don't really trust people i don't know personally not since a few years ago where i lived this young smart girl was taken in by someone on social media pretending to be her age she arranged to meet him and ended up raped and dead when this happens so close to home it gives you a reality check

The internet is a scary world especially when an adult nevermind for children. It is so easy to get fooled.

I scan my 13 year olds FB every night.

Have to be careful with xbox live too

Too much personal info is available and accessible online on social media accounts - also some of those big companies deliberately keep changing the privacy settings and other people/agencies/companies can pull your contact details very easily. I've removed my date of birth and phone number etc. from being viewable on a certain popular site. For ID I'm happy with my driving license (my passport expired 9 years ago). I like the idea of electronic ID, but I worry about how secure it would be and how easy it would be for someone to fake an ID with it.

I dont trust anyone online, i always try and protect myself as much as possible by using protected payments and securing my computer as much as problem! The internet is a wonderful thing though and not sure what i would do without it!

you always have to be careful online

I've seen national identity cards used in other countries with good success. It's a shame the UK didn't implement a good one and people where so against it without understanding the possible benefit of having one secure card with multiple uses.

It can be annoying having to provide different forms of ID to access new services, especially in these days of paperless accounts when a recent (usually within 3 months) proof of address is required, but I'd rather do that than risk account security. And as for social media, I don't use it as it is so false, just look at some of those photographs! Laughable. I have genuine friends that I meet and speak to on the phone, and don't feel the need to brag about what amazing thing I had for lunch ;-)

There is an old fashioned saying "Don't believe everything you read in the newspapers" This still stands and applies even more to the internet.

I worry about children's access to the internet as most have tablets or phones at a young age and it is difficult and time consuming to monitor everything they are accessing. I heard Story of a friends child being messaged by a man from Germany posing as alocal boy on snapchat last week! I wish there was big switch you could press to turn it into an under 18s device!

I work in IT and I am very skeptical of unexpected phone calls and quite high on security and cyber security.

I think the main way to prevent fraud is education. Being able to spot when something isn't right with a request and knowing how to protect yourself in real life and with technology

I am very careful on what information I share online and have everything set to private! You never know these days!

I think it's really important to educate our children as soon as they start to go online that it is easy to pretend to be someone you are not and that they should be careful not to share their own personal data. E-safety is such an important topic and I'm still surprised more time is not dedicated to it in school.

I think it's human nature to believe what we read and take things at face value. With it being so easy to fake things online, it's vital we teach our children, as well as ourselves, to question what we are told, particularly on social media.

1. If you are talking to someone online and then consider meeting them: talk on the phone first or via skype /webcam.When meeting them meet somewhere neutral, during daylight and in a completely public place - it's common sense! I went to Nashville on my own when I was 17 (18 years ago!) to meet with people I knew from a forum and I actually stayed with them in their home! I had numerous phone calls with them prior to going and pics and stuff - at the time my mum was furious with me lol

1. On social media you should use a nickname to make yourself less searchable - I have a nickname that I use across social media - I also have a junk email associated with the social media accounts - I have done since I first got online and to be honest it means that if someone is trying to phish my accounts then they arent going to get much information at all

1. I really dont like how so many people post so many things publicly that include pictures of their children / car / home - which are totally identifiable - like first day of school in their school uniform with the logo - they have their kids name the school name etc all up showing on a picture anyone could use that info to groom that child or even pick them up frm school - there are plenty of tools to protect yourself lots provided free by socialmedia sites thmselves so why do it

Age restricted content is open to anyone online (for example anyone, whatever their age, can access all sorts of content with no restrictions)
Very difficult to ensure that children do not use social media before they are mature enough to use it – easy to add a couple of years onto a date of birth. Would rather there was a way accounts could only be opened, or access restricted until proof of age submitted.

Online personas can't be trusted (for example - it's easy to pose as someone older or younger when interacting with other people online)
This is my greatest fear with my youngest child. I have 3 children aged 22, 20 and 18 who all had access to Facebook before 13 but it was strictly monitored at home. I do not allow my 11 year old daughter to have Facebook but she does have Snapchat and Instagram – I allow her these accounts to keep in touch with siblings at university but have to monitor her accounts to ensure nothing untoward occurs. My greatest fear is her being befriended by somebody much older posing as a young person. I have seen several programmes on grooming and can see how easy it is to groom a person, and not just a young person, but the younger generation seem to be even more vulnerable.

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)
This is shocking. I work in the NHS and know how that amount of money could be used within the NHS. However, it is extremely important to get on top of fraud. I believe companies all have a duty of care to be responsible for the safety of data used on the internet and it certainly shouldn’t be shared. Companies should not be allowed to share data on the internet and should be more heavily fined for doing so. I feel it should be a given that information ISNT shared unless a box is ticked to agree to sharing rather than the other way round as too often the boxes are hidden away so that people don't notice them.

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 find it frustrating having to produce documents to support online account applications. My daughter recently opened a Halifax savings account online. She provided all the information required. However, she still needed to take a document such as a utility bill or a bank statement, that showed proof of address, along with a document such as a passport or driving licence that showed proof of identity. She only obtained her driving licence a few months ago and, as her she has a valid passport, all she needed to do to obtain this was apply online. As both are government documents, the details from the driving licence were cross-referenced with the existing passport, payment was made online and the driving licence arrived a few days later. It strikes me that there should be a central system whereby basic information can be held and cross-checked. This is what credit reference agencies do all the time. I know this sounds like I'm contradicting myself but what I mean is that it is different checking information supplied by a customer to using customer information to target a customer.

mumnets should be wary in revealing their locations and real names,too. and a lot of mums are actually exchanging numbers and see one another. we have to know one another better first before agreeing to meet .we cant just trust anyone. there's no harm having friends here but we have to be extra careful.

Thanks for all the comments TellMeItsNotTrue wins the £250 voucher - well done!