Happy “Birthday” to Me

For the record, April Fools’ Day isn’t actually my birthday. But in terms of arbitrary age verification for social networking, it’s the date I often use. My reasons for doing this are rooted partly from annoyance and partly due to the fact that your birth date can easily be used for identity theft.
This all began when I first joined a social network a few years ago. When joining, I was required to enter a birth date. They tell you up front that you do not have to display this information on your profile, but they need to confirm that you’re old enough to use the site. Sounds secure enough, right?
Shortly thereafter, I noticed advertisements on the site that referenced my birth year. While your actual birth information isn’t provided to the advertisers, the advertisements can be targeted at your demographic. If you are interested in testing just how this works, move your birth year forward or back 10 years and see how the types of advertisements change. The same thing applies to other information you provide—“singles” get singles ads; bacon fans get bacon-targeted ads. Advertisers can customize their ads to target people using a variety of options, even targeting your friend’s ads as your birthday approaches.
Choosing not to publish your birthday on your profile may limit all of this to some extent, but another annoyance (continue reading...)