There have been many discussions on this forum with regard to the various issues mentioned.

On the identity theft point, most "security" questions - the sort asked when you sign up for online banking etc for example - ask stuff like "What was your mothers maiden name?". A question such as that, when coupled with a bit of thought, can be easily solved with a squint around a family tree or the GRO index. Personally, I find those kind of "security" questions totally pointless. Just as one should never use relatively simple (to find out) questions such as "What is your dog/cat called?".

As someone with an interest in (computer) security, I have seen how easy it is to take hold of someone elses account with nothing more than a passing knowledge of that person. Likewise, I have seen how easily people can be tricked into giving out all their details using what is called "social engineering".

My views on other people using data from online trees has been mentioned many times on the forum, so I won't go into that again - but I do appreciate that other people have differing views

Mark