This seems like it's mostly about retail situations. I just say no in the situations. It's always surprising how taken aback cashiers and such are when you just refuse to provide your phone number or zip code or whatever else they ask for. I'm pretty non-confrontational, but I have no problem just answering no when asked for unnecessary personal information.
I always just say no as well. I've been doing it for decades, but haven't seen anybody taken aback by it for a very long time. They just say "OK" and move on.
Miss Manners (IIRC) back in the 20th century, advised that people who ask questions they have no business asking should have no expectation of receiving answers that have any accuracy.
(although US banks may put PII like "what was your momma's name?" and "where did you go to elementary school?" to actual use, they somehow still haven't gotten around to "can you make a roux?")
pro tip: at CVS (and probably elsewhere), <local-area-code>-867-5309 will come back as a valid customer. Better than simply refusing because in many cases you will get a discounted price on some items as a "member"
> The song's title, "777-9311", was Prince guitarist Dez Dickerson's actual telephone number at the time the song was written. Once the song became a hit, the phone calls started coming in, and Dickerson ended up having to change his phone number.
I'm the same, but I've been known to get argumentative if they continue or refuse to not accept it.
Now, I just give obviously fake phone numbers like 212-555-1212. Since most of these retail type people are younger, they don't even know what the 555 prefix means or what the significance of the 1212 number was. Instead, they just dutifully enter in the number like a good automaton. If they then try to be "friendly" by addressing you as a the name that comes up with the number, I just nod and smile.
My level of combativeness with their overreaching into privacy is solely dictated by their attitude. Most of them are just fine when you decline to provide the requested data. I've even had some just use whatever pretend account they use. It's only when they get snippy with me that I ramp up.
Websites are the problem. You can't say "no thanks" to a required form field. (The obvious retort of "well don't shop there" is a no-go.)
I've given "none-of-your-business" data to companies that don't need it for a long time, (e.g. my middle name, shockingly, is your domain name, so weird!) but it CAN bite you if you forget your password and they ask for your birthday as proof of who you are.
I get asked my birthday so seldomly that I always forget what my new forever birthday is going to be by the next time I need it.
I love giving nonsensical answers. To the people trying to sell me newspapers in the street I usually reply "I don't read". For the door-to-door charity folk I tend to use variations on "I don't like [whatever their charity is for]". E.g. I don't like children.
This usually confuses them enough so you can get clear before they recompose themselves.
A lot of hackers do this. One thing I noticed: I get a flood of e-mail on 1st Jan with special offers and companies pretending to 'care' it's your birthday when it's all automated drivel.
I do this. It causes lots of confusion when my friends get reminded about my birthday by Facebook. It’s reached the point where I have started celebrating my Facebook birthday, in addition to my real birthday.
I helped my mother with her FB account and someday started to change her birthday every 3 months or so. She started getting "happy birthday!" every three months, usually from the same people.
She was initially mad at me (I told her it was my brother who was doing it :)) but then realized that it helped her to identify the senile ones :)
In general... don't give out information that's not needed... and give out fake information when not needed, but required by stupid webforms.
So yeah, I'll give actual information to government, insurance, bank etc, but mostly bullshit (even name, DoB, etc) to (web)shops. Besides the address a shop doesn't need anything from me, so they usually get a throwaway e-mail, no phone-number or 0123456789 and only a postal-address if buying physical goods for delivery.
For mail-addresses where I need them later, always just customize them (like with gmail using youraccount+webshopname@gmail.com or with self-hosted using postfix's + or - address seperator).
I'm in a jurisdiction where lying in many cases is legal. I think the principle in general is that lying without bad intent is legal.
> [...] Do not lie about your birthday to your doctor. Or your bank. Or when you’re trying to get your driver’s license. You get my point.
I don't give my real birthday to my doctor. Because why should I? An approximate birthday is totally fine for medical purposes.
Of course I don't lie to banks or the government. I think legislation against money laundering etc. is a good thing and so I accept these requirements.
> I don't give my real birthday to my doctor. Because why should I?
You do what works for you, but medical care is one of those situations where I want things to have as little unintended friction as possible. There can be a ton of small edge cases balancing insurance and medicine and pharmacies and god knows what that I don’t want to introduce issues into. In the extreme case, I wouldnt want to end up in the ER from an ambulance and the hospital to miss some important note in my chart (eg drug allergy) because the license on my body doesn’t match the birthday on my same-named file.
> Ask why the office or person or company needs that information from you. Or just ignore it until you’re asked for it directly, and then ask them why they need it.
I've tried that a few times. I always seem to get back the same non-answers:
"Oh, this is standard procedure", or "Our system doesn't work without this info".
I've yet to receive a non-dismissive or intelligible reply...
Readit News
(although US banks may put PII like "what was your momma's name?" and "where did you go to elementary school?" to actual use, they somehow still haven't gotten around to "can you make a roux?")
> The song's title, "777-9311", was Prince guitarist Dez Dickerson's actual telephone number at the time the song was written. Once the song became a hit, the phone calls started coming in, and Dickerson ended up having to change his phone number.
Now, I just give obviously fake phone numbers like 212-555-1212. Since most of these retail type people are younger, they don't even know what the 555 prefix means or what the significance of the 1212 number was. Instead, they just dutifully enter in the number like a good automaton. If they then try to be "friendly" by addressing you as a the name that comes up with the number, I just nod and smile.
My level of combativeness with their overreaching into privacy is solely dictated by their attitude. Most of them are just fine when you decline to provide the requested data. I've even had some just use whatever pretend account they use. It's only when they get snippy with me that I ramp up.
I just say it's "against my religion." That usually works pretty well.
I've given "none-of-your-business" data to companies that don't need it for a long time, (e.g. my middle name, shockingly, is your domain name, so weird!) but it CAN bite you if you forget your password and they ask for your birthday as proof of who you are.
I get asked my birthday so seldomly that I always forget what my new forever birthday is going to be by the next time I need it.
This usually confuses them enough so you can get clear before they recompose themselves.
Phone: Yes
Never had anyone get real "pushy" though. But I give off "doesn't like to be pushed around" vibes haha.
This is a date very familiar to Unix people
and it gives me a smile!She was initially mad at me (I told her it was my brother who was doing it :)) but then realized that it helped her to identify the senile ones :)
So yeah, I'll give actual information to government, insurance, bank etc, but mostly bullshit (even name, DoB, etc) to (web)shops. Besides the address a shop doesn't need anything from me, so they usually get a throwaway e-mail, no phone-number or 0123456789 and only a postal-address if buying physical goods for delivery.
For mail-addresses where I need them later, always just customize them (like with gmail using youraccount+webshopname@gmail.com or with self-hosted using postfix's + or - address seperator).
Deleted Comment
> [...] Do not lie about your birthday to your doctor. Or your bank. Or when you’re trying to get your driver’s license. You get my point.
I don't give my real birthday to my doctor. Because why should I? An approximate birthday is totally fine for medical purposes.
Of course I don't lie to banks or the government. I think legislation against money laundering etc. is a good thing and so I accept these requirements.
You do what works for you, but medical care is one of those situations where I want things to have as little unintended friction as possible. There can be a ton of small edge cases balancing insurance and medicine and pharmacies and god knows what that I don’t want to introduce issues into. In the extreme case, I wouldnt want to end up in the ER from an ambulance and the hospital to miss some important note in my chart (eg drug allergy) because the license on my body doesn’t match the birthday on my same-named file.
I've tried that a few times. I always seem to get back the same non-answers: "Oh, this is standard procedure", or "Our system doesn't work without this info". I've yet to receive a non-dismissive or intelligible reply...