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In Denmark we have had since 1968 the CPR number (Civil Registration Number).
You need it to open a bank account, access your health insurance, borrow books from the library, pay tax, receive a salary and so on.
The CPR number consists of ten digits. The first six digits are your date of birth (day, month and year) while the last four digits provide a unique identification number for all citizens in Denmark. The final four numbers also indicate your gender, ending in even numbers for women and odd numbers for men.
It is by law supposedly confidential and sensitive information but in reality everyone uses it as the primary key number to identify you in IT-systems - in fact I tried once to sit an exam in IT security without supplying my CPR number on these grounds, but was told that in that case, I could not take the exam.
Once in a while some of these numbers are suddenly shared by accident, with third parties who are not supposed to have access to this information.
Once, 2 million unencrypted CPR numbers were found on discs in the Chinese Embassy. They were returned by the embassy with the assurances that they had not been read or copied or in any way been compromised (more than was already the case).
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