Ecotricity refused to set up an account without my date of birth — is this allowed?

TroubledTarts

Is it unreasonable - No

Can you read any number of conspiracies into this - yes if you are that way inclined

Is there another way to do this without supplying a DOB - yes read the responses and chose one of those paths

born_again

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81950318#Comment_81950318

So you trust no one in your family/inner circle then?

People send me cards & can arrive at any point from week before to week after. Cakes, we eat them all the time at work.

The trouble is people that splash them all over social media. Not a company that has policies not place to protect data.

Do you not tell anyone your DOB? Employer, bank, CRA's.. Goverment deptments?

WiserMiser

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81950449#Comment_81950449

I said "The only time I give my true DoB is when applying for insurance or a driving licence etc because it might cause problems later."

Obviously the BIB includes the organisations to which you refer.

With others, I treat DoB and MMN merely as requests for a Memorable Date and a Memorable Name. I don't regard that as lying, and I don't claim anything to which I'm not entitled.

Military, government and other organisations operate on a Need To Know basis. It makes sense to take similar precautions with one's personal information — if they don't have a legitimate need, why risk telling them? It's often accessible by hundreds or thousands of people and it's unwise to assume that every single one is trustworthy. Working from home and offshoring customer service increases the risks.

Crapita admitted that my data had been part of a data breach affecting six million people and for which they were fined £14 million; Jaguar and M&S are still recovering from being hacked. Once bitten, twice shy !