Apple acquires "identity pollution" patent aimed at fighting Big Brother

Re:Apple acquires "identity pollution" patent aimed at fight... by _delirium on Sunday June 24, 2012 @04:18AM (#4152895)

I've had to do that before when applying for a credit card, but the information wasn't very accurate. They were asking a bunch of questions about my mortgage, which I've never had. Eventually I realized they had somehow gotten my parents' mortgage attached to my name (possibly because I was on one of their credit card accounts years ago?), and once I realized that, I was able to answer the questions correctly by asking my parents what to answer. But, not too impressed.

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Re:Apple acquires "identity pollution" patent aimed at fight... by BryanB55 on Sunday June 24, 2012 @12:26PM (#4153608)

Always happens to me too. Except I have the same name as my Dad so things are even more confusing. They tend to ask me the name of my brother and his birthdate etc... Except I don't have a brother. Usually if I enter the info of my Dad's brother it gets processed as correct.

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Re:Apple acquires "identity pollution" patent aimed at fight... by DanBC on Sunday June 24, 2012 @07:38AM (#4153143)

Thats committed a criminal offence in the UK.

I'm assuming you're in the US. You need some sensible privacy laws.

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Re:Apple acquires "identity pollution" patent aimed at fight... by culturestate on Sunday June 24, 2012 @11:02AM (#4153448)

Which part? The questions themselves or the commingling of credit histories?

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Re:Apple acquires "identity pollution" patent aimed at fight... by DanBC on Sunday June 24, 2012 @11:06AM (#4153458)

Storing information insecurely, releasing someone else's data without their permission, etc.

EDIT: Here's the official guidance from the regulator: (http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/sector_guides/financ...)

(http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_the_public/topic_specific_guides/c...)

Page 12 of this document talks about "associations" (http://www.experian.co.uk/downloads/consumer/creditRefAgency...) - credit reference agencies cannot use data about one person at an address to rate a different person at that address, even if they have the same surname, unless there is some financial link.

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Re:Apple acquires "identity pollution" patent aimed at fight... by culturestate on Sunday June 24, 2012 @12:30PM (#4153619)

Re: "associations," I doubt very much it's intentional; more likely a mixup in the data.

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Re:Apple acquires "identity pollution" patent aimed at fight... by harshreality on Sunday June 24, 2012 @07:12AM (#4153122)

When entities with access to your credit history do that, they present a mixture of true and false questions. It's quite possible they were expecting you to say that, no, you didn't have that mortgage.

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Re:Apple acquires "identity pollution" patent aimed at fight... by culturestate on Sunday June 24, 2012 @11:04AM (#4153453)

I've had a similar experience; despite repeated attempts to correct it, my dad's AmEx invariably shows up on my Equifax report. Apparently I've had quite a nice line with them since I turned 8.

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Re:Apple acquires "identity pollution" patent aimed at fight... by joshred on Sunday June 24, 2012 @07:10AM (#4153118)

You might want to check your credit report.

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