----- Original Message ----- From: "Cheryl Rothwell" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, March 31, 2003 8:48 AM Subject: [IL-CENTRAL] Mother's Maiden Name > This is a concern of many genealogists. If you take his line of action be > sure you can remember "your mother's maiden name" when asked again! Some ask > instead where you were born, also readily available information. > > The following article is from Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter and is > copyright 2003 by Richard W. Eastman. It is re-published here with the > permission of the author. Information about the newsletter is available at > http://www.RootsForum.com. > > > - The Security of Your Mother's Maiden Name > > This article is an updated version (with minor changes) of an article I > published some months ago. The topic of "keeping your mother's maiden name > secret" keeps reappearing all the time so this article still seems to be > timely. > > I see frequent articles bemoaning the fact that genealogy information on the > Web sometimes includes the maiden name of a living person's mother. These > articles are usually accompanied by great hue and cry that this is a > security risk because this piece of information is often used for security > reasons. These same articles often suggest that ancestral information should > not be placed on the Web because of "security issues." That's dumb! From > where I sit, this is a perfect example of backwards thinking! > > Any institution that uses the mother's maiden name "for security purposes" > is really behind the times and needs to quickly hire a security expert. Even > novice security managers would immediately change that policy. In the United > States and many other countries, mothers' maiden names and other personal > information have always been available from numerous public sources. This > information has always been in the public domain. The invention of the > Internet did not really change anything. A mother's maiden name could easily > be discovered fifty years ago, and the same is still true today. Any > corporation that uses a mother's maiden name for security purposes obviously > doesn't know much about security. > > I usually refuse to do business with companies that insist upon using my > mother's maiden name as a security identifier. I don't want to do business > with any company with a lame security policy. I advise you to do the same: > boycott companies that have inadequate security policies. > > However, if you really want to do business with a company that has a policy > of using your mother's maiden name for security purposes, please remember > that you can always create a fictitious name on the spot. I did open a bank > account some years ago and the bank clerk smiled when she asked for my > mother's maiden name "for security purposes." She did blink a couple of > times when I replied, "Fudpucker," but she wrote that name in the blank on > the application form and didn't say anything. Nobody will ever find that > name on a genealogy Web site of mine! > > There is no legal requirement to supply the correct maiden name, and the > bank or other corporation really doesn't care what name you give them. All > they want is something to enter in the blank space on their form - a name > that you can remember when they ask. I use "Fudpucker" because it is a name > I can remember and also because I find it amusing. However, you can use any > name you wish. My recommendation is that you never, ever supply your > mother's correct maiden name. By using a fictitious name, your security will > not be compromised by a Web site or by a criminal's surreptitious visit to > the state Vital Records Department. > > If an elected official or other bureaucrat ever tries to limit access to > vital records, please feel free to send them a copy of this article. Tell > them it's time to wake up and look at the real issues, and to stop trying to > protect a maiden name policy that is ludicrous to begin with. Then vote > against the politician in the next election. You don't want a backwards > mentality like that in public office! > > If you send a damned fool to Washington, and you don't tell them he's a > damned fool, they'll never find out. -- Mark Twain, 1883 > > A smarter politician would sponsor a bill to make it illegal for a financial > institution to use a mother's maiden name or any other piece of public > domain information for security purposes. But, then again, when did you ever > see a smarter politician? >