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The only way of being anonymous in Sweden is illegal?

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Re: The only way of being anonymous in Sweden is illegal?

#251

Post by halper »

gazonk wrote: post #190
Mankaninen wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article is not correct on salaries being public: What is public are your tax reports and those are done a year later. To my knowledge you cannot see all details either, only totals that the tax is based on. Thus I think your statement is wrong or at least it is not related to the public databases mentioned in the article.

The full social security number for a person is not easily obtained and not published by the free websites.

Very easily obtained, though: just call +46856485160 and ask for it. They also reply to questions like "okay, so did this person have any siblings and what were their parents' names?" and "who else lives at that address?" and so on.

I have needed to provide information for a visa application including family history on dead half-relatives from a branch of the family tree I have very little contact with. It was a breeze. Names at birth, later marriages, dates of death and everything that I had no idea was given without delay (as stipulated by law).

Re: The only way of being anonymous in Sweden is illegal?

#252

Post by TazeTSchnitzel »

drakonka wrote: post #164
TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #108

One upside of everyone's name, date of birth, address and personal ID number being public knowledge in Sweden is that organisations don't treat knowing any of those as proof of your identity. It's absurd how that's not the case in other places.

Technically your personal ID is not public knowledge. The first eight digits are, which contain your birth date. The last four digits are always obfuscated. In reality, it is common to provide your personnummer verbally in non-private settings so if someone within earshot had some interest in remembering your ID they could. Edit: The above might not be entirely accurate, check out the thread below. Some of these look…

mrkoll.se lets you see personnummer, as do many other sites. Some of the big ones do not show it, but it's not because they can't, but because they do not want to.

Re: The only way of being anonymous in Sweden is illegal?

#253

Post by TazeTSchnitzel »

cinntaile wrote: post #123
TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #108

One upside of everyone's name, date of birth, address and personal ID number being public knowledge in Sweden is that organisations don't treat knowing any of those as proof of your identity. It's absurd how that's not the case in other places.

They most certainly treat knowing your personal ID as proof of your identity in plenty of cases. One example... People can change other people's addresses without any real proof, you need to opt-in at the tax agency so that you need an eID to do this. The tax agency explicitly mentions this on their website. https://skatteverket.se/servicelankar/otherlanguages/inengli...

As the sibling comment says, the number is not authentication, it's just an identifier. That type of fraud works exactly the same way as sending a letter to the tax agency in any other country does: trust that people won't be so daring as to write fraudulent letters and sign off on them very often. Obviously it will happen sometimes, but they have processes to deal with fraud.

Re: The only way of being anonymous in Sweden is illegal?

#254

Post by TazeTSchnitzel »

amelius wrote: post #143
TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #108

One upside of everyone's name, date of birth, address and personal ID number being public knowledge in Sweden is that organisations don't treat knowing any of those as proof of your identity. It's absurd how that's not the case in other places.

But how about international organizations then?

That's one downside. :( I am slightly worried that someone could exploit my public details in Sweden to do ID theft on me in the country I moved from, and there's nothing I can do about it.

Re: The only way of being anonymous in Sweden is illegal?

#255

Post by drakonka »

boxed wrote: post #246
drakonka wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Technically your personal ID is not public knowledge. The first eight digits are, which contain your birth date. The last four digits are always obfuscated. In reality, it is common to provide your personnummer verbally in non-private settings so if someone within earshot had some interest in remembering your ID they could. Edit: The above might not be entirely accurate, check out the thread below. Some of these look…

This is 100% WRONG. Anyone can call the tax office and ask for the full person number of any person and they will give it. Swedes are super confused about this so lots of people do the thing you talk about and think it's private but it's absolutely not. This disconnect between folk lore and reality is quite dangerous as people who believe the folk lore can start doing stupid shit like accepting the personnummer as al…

I'm not sure if you read the entirety of my comment, but I learned this shortly after posting and made an edit.

I'm curious about this part of your comment:

> so lots of people do the thing you talk about

What is "the thing" you're referring to?

Re: The only way of being anonymous in Sweden is illegal?

#256

Post by boxed »

drakonka wrote: post #255
boxed wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is 100% WRONG. Anyone can call the tax office and ask for the full person number of any person and they will give it. Swedes are super confused about this so lots of people do the thing you talk about and think it's private but it's absolutely not. This disconnect between folk lore and reality is quite dangerous as people who believe the folk lore can start doing stupid shit like accepting the personnummer as al…

I'm not sure if you read the entirety of my comment, but I learned this shortly after posting and made an edit. I'm curious about this part of your comment: > so lots of people do the thing you talk about What is "the thing" you're referring to?

Your edit contains:

> Some of these lookup sites may reveal the personnummer on registration and possibly payment

"some"? It's THE TAX OFFICE OF THE COUNTRY

"may"? WILL

"on registration"? No. YOU JUST CALL THEM. No questions asked.

Your comment with the edit is still enormously wrong.

Re: The only way of being anonymous in Sweden is illegal?

#257

Post by drakonka »

boxed wrote: post #256
drakonka wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure if you read the entirety of my comment, but I learned this shortly after posting and made an edit. I'm curious about this part of your comment: > so lots of people do the thing you talk about What is "the thing" you're referring to?

Your edit contains: > Some of these lookup sites may reveal the personnummer on registration and possibly payment "some"? It's THE TAX OFFICE OF THE COUNTRY "may"? WILL "on registration"? No. YOU JUST CALL THEM. No questions asked. Your comment with the edit is still enormously wrong.

I edited my comment with the information I had at the time, and suggested that readers to check the threads beneath for more up to date information. I'm not sure why you're so offended about someone being wrong on the Internet, but I assure you it happens a lot. Hopefully all that caps helped you get some stress out though.

Re: The only way of being anonymous in Sweden is illegal?

#258

Post by boxed »

drakonka wrote: post #257
boxed wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your edit contains: > Some of these lookup sites may reveal the personnummer on registration and possibly payment "some"? It's THE TAX OFFICE OF THE COUNTRY "may"? WILL "on registration"? No. YOU JUST CALL THEM. No questions asked. Your comment with the edit is still enormously wrong.

I edited my comment with the information I had at the time, and suggested that readers to check the threads beneath for more up to date information. I'm not sure why you're so offended about someone being wrong on the Internet, but I assure you it happens a lot. Hopefully all that caps helped you get some stress out though.

People being wrong is no excuse for being wrong.

Re: The only way of being anonymous in Sweden is illegal?

#259

Post by drakonka »

boxed wrote: post #258
drakonka wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I edited my comment with the information I had at the time, and suggested that readers to check the threads beneath for more up to date information. I'm not sure why you're so offended about someone being wrong on the Internet, but I assure you it happens a lot. Hopefully all that caps helped you get some stress out though.

People being wrong is no excuse for being wrong.

Nobody needs an excuse for being wrong; it's a perfectly normal part of the human condition.

Re: The only way of being anonymous in Sweden is illegal?

#260

Post by renewiltord »

impossiblefork wrote: post #245
renewiltord wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't read those. What about those books are inconceivable?

The general attitude in Byköping, the manner in which the villains behave and the inherent foreignness of Agaton Sax's adversaries.

I bought the first book. Let me have a look.
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