are less often used to distinguish individual identity, because they are traits shared by many people. However, they are potentially PII, because they may be combined with other personal information to identify an individual. Full Name Home Address City State Postcode Country Telephone Age, Date of Birth, especially if non-specific Gender or race Web cookie Forensics In forensics, particularly the identification and prosecution of criminals, personally identifiable information is critical in establishing evidence in criminal procedure. Criminals may go to great trouble to avoid leaving any PII, such as by: Wearing masks, sunglasses, or clothing to obscure or completely hide distinguishing features, such as eye, skin, and hair colour, facial features, and personal marks such as tattoos, birthmarks, moles and scars. Wearing gloves to conceal fingerprints, which themselves are PII. However, gloves can also leave prints that are just as unique as human fingerprints. After collecting glove prints, law enforcement can then match them to gloves that they have collected as evidence. In many jurisdictions the act of wearing gloves itself while committing a crime can be prosecuted as an inchoate offense. Avoiding writing anything in their own handwriting. Masking their internet presence with methods such as using a proxy server to appear to be connecting from an IP address unassociated with oneself. Personal safety Personal data is a key component of online identity and can be exploited by individuals. For instance, data can be altered and used to create fake documents, hijack mail boxes and phone calls or harass people, such as in the data breach from the EE Limited company. Another key case can be referred to as Financial Identity Theft, which usually entails bank account and credit card information being stolen, and then being used or sold. Personal data can also be used to create fake online identity, including fake accounts and profiles (that can be referred as Identity Cloning or Identity Fraud) for celebrities to gather data from other users more easily. Even individuals can be concerned, especially for personal purpose (this is more widely known as sockpuppetry). The most critical information, such as one's password, date of birth, ID documents or Social Insurance Number, can be used to log in to different websites (See Password reuse and Account verification) to gather more information and access more content. Also, several agencies ask for discretion on subject related to their work, for the safety of their employees.