You may be wondering…why no personal pictures etc.?
Simple answer (as a civilian, as a public figure, it doesn’t matter anymore) – identity theft. This isn’t just my identity theft, but others’ as well. It’s routine for scammers to steal photos and use them in cons; this is why I no longer expose the pictures gallery.
Given that many online websites ask for your PII to obtain password reset, you wind up obligated not to share most of your personal life on the wider Internet.
Don’t even start with me on tax return information and financial statements; the existence of accounts and the content of your credit report (which itself isn’t private) are also used as verification questions. Plus you give the scammers a giant red X to try and steal your money by going directly to the financial institutions. Sometimes people ask candidates for their tax returns; why are they even asking the candidate for that information? If the candidate is lying to them, they’ll just redact those lines. Do people think these things can’t be forged, or that a candidate couldn’t have been lying to the IRS in the first place? If people want semi-reliable answers, the IRS needs to be handing out summary reports itself.
As someone who lives in the public sphere, I assume that my photos, DNA, SSN, home address, phone number, etc. are going to get out there.
As a role model, I’m not putting most of that information out there myself (at least not directly tied to my name) to communicate that keeping these things close hold is usually the better response.
If you need a photo, find or make an avatar picture and use that as your brand, like this (the picture is copyright Atlus):
If you need a phone number, buy a separate one that you can filter and ditch if necessary.
Don’t meet people at your home address.
DNA is hopeless if someone wants it because they can get it from your hair and eating utensils.
As for the larger question of identify theft – you’re screwed anyway. There are any number of companies, traditional (credit bureaus, ChoicePoint) and Internet-based (e.g. Google) whose whole purpose is to collect files on you, and sell them to any Tom, Dick, or Harry that wants to know about you. Plus half of the identity theft comes as a result of cybercrimes against your business partners or government entities, over which you don’t exercise effective control.
The half-answer is to follow guidelines above, don’t give out your PII unless you have to, and freeze your credit reports. The real answer is for legislators to enact, and business to incorporate, technologically sane procedures for granting credit, human validation, and securing accounts.