On Tue, Oct 31, 2006 at 10:34:52AM +0000, Nigel Roberts wrote:
>> That's an interesting approach. Should I get some sort of certified copy
>> of my birth certificate that redacts the things you didn't already know
>> (like names of parents, place I was born, and maybe even my date of
>> birth?) Is what is left sufficiently useful?
> Birth certicates are different, as there is statutory provision about them.
Also, birth certificates are public documents. Anyone can obtain a copy
of anyone else's birth certificate. There is no privacy about anything
contained on one.
However, there is an interesting wider question about when it would be
reasonable to ask for a birth certificate in the first place. An ever
increasing number of people are commonly known by a name different from
that on their certificate. Providing a birth certificate as "proof of
identity" for such people will rarely actually achieve this goal - if
anything it is likely to muddy the waters.
There are certainly occassions where it is necessary to go down this
rabbit hole, but this would mostly be restricted to government functions:
the vast majority of commercial organisations should have no need to
ever know what name is on someone's birth certificate.
Tony
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