Why I lied on Swiss TV last night

Last night I lied on Swiss TV.

A film crew came to visit Sophos in March to ask us about Conficker, botnets, spam and all that kind of thing. However, the reporter insisted that I tell him my full date of birth as he wanted to show it on screen when I was introduced.

I laughed and said that was crazy. I mean, to show interviewee's dates of birth in a documentary about computer security and identity theft - that was bonkers, right?

But he insisted I give him a date so I made him a deal.

I asked him to guess how old I was and we'd use that as a way of working out my birth year, and we'd use the date of the filming as my date of birth.

He seemed to go for it - and I never had to tell my real date of birth to the population of Switzerland. Mind you, I wish they'd asked me how tall I was - they've done me quite a disservice!

But let this be a reminder for all of you - don't be pressured into revealing personal information you don't wish to share, unless it's absolutely necessary.

You can watch the TV report below. It's all dubbed in German, so I have no clue whether I'm saying anything sensible or not. It has, however, encouraged me to get back on the treadmill.

http://www.sf.tv/videoplayer/embed/3b623732-3dd4-4ecb-a9b8-1440c4e6bd94&live=false