User blog comment:Sannse/On the Internet, Nobody Knows You're a Dog/@comment-1868248-20130125002842/@comment-1868248-20130126114403

/wags tail. Did you want my social security number?

On a serious note though, data security is more important now than it ever has been. From experience working in the financial services industry I've had to unravel more than one attempt at fraud caused by identity theft. And further to that using the web, some smooth chatting on social media sites, and a few judicious phone calls, to track down loan defaulters.

So - from the perspective of someone who once worked as an online conman - your identity and every part of it is valuable. Don't give it out to anyone.