Just Goes To Show...

you can find anything on the Internet. I was reading a story this morning about Harvard University's little problem that university student and staff pharmacy records had been open to anyone via university website. Apparently to access the info, one simply needed a student or employee ID number (which was available) and the person's birthdate. The point of this little comment is not the pharmacy records access, it was a another tidbit in the story which revealed the existence of a website for doing birthday searches named Anybirthday.com.

I ran several relatives names through the engine and bingo! didn't miss a one. My name became a little more of a problem because; a) it is a relatively common name in general terms (relative's names I typed came up with single hits) and b) it listed a zip code from a residence that is eight years old. Still, even after thinking I pretty much knew the power and scope of what's out there, it amazes me this little item exists. And no, I'm not paranoid about someone knowing my birthday or my age, it's the possibility of what that information, when used in conjunction with other information as was the case at Harvard, and the resulting possibilities of which I am not even aware that gives me pause.