All about Lisa: a life laid bare

By NAOMI LARKIN AND STAFF REPORTERS

Unearthing the private life of Lisa Barber took little in the way of digging.

Only hours after she granted her permission, a catalogue of her most personal and mundane details began to emerge - outlined by a paper trail of public records, and coloured in by unguarded public servants and retailers.

Lisa volunteered to be the subject of a Weekend Herald privacy investigation showing what an ordinary person, not a private eye or the police, could find from just a name.

She gave full agreement to having her life picked over - her employment, educational, financial, medical and personal details unravelled and exposed - because it was in the public interest.

The Weekend Herald's self-imposed rules were that neither Lisa nor her friends and family could be contacted. She was not to be followed or spied on or her mail opened.

Some calls were made on Lisa's behalf. But, if this newspaper could make such calls, so could some unscrupulous person pretending to be her.

An e-mail address and cellphone number were established to be Lisa's contact.

At each stage, she was kept informed.

There were areas, such as bank and medical records, where privacy laws were strictly observed, making access difficult.

But in other areas, privacy was overwhelmed by the human urge to gossip - the desire of the person on the other end of the phone line to give just a little more information.

The extent of the data uncovered has astounded the blond, 27-year-old former Southlander, who now lives in Auckland.

It ranges from her academic and Accident Compensation Corporation records, the Family Planning clinic she attends, her family tree dating back to the 1800s, through to what videos she was late in returning and how her hair was cut two years ago.

It even included information she was unaware of, such as a $383.43 tax rebate she had no idea she was owed.

The Weekend Herald found her e-mail address and was able, with some tips from hackers, to open it.

Today, Lisa Barber is a successful, key account executive for Tegel Foods in Auckland, but is heading overseas soon.

She happens to flat with a Weekend Herald reporter who took no part in the investigation.

Lisa became a houseowner at the age of 25 with her former partner, Matthew John Gibbs, who now lives in Australia. She bought her Mt Roskill three-bedroom, Californian bungalow in January 1999. It is now on the market.

When asked about the house, the former real estate agent also gave a description of Lisa: a blond woman of average height.

Auckland City Council property files show that rates bills of $1128.79 a year are to be sent to Heinz Watties in Victoria, Australia - obviously where her former partner now works.

Over the phone, a Mercury Energy staff member said the power account for the property was under her ex-partner's name with Lisa's present address given for any correspondence to be forwarded to.

Before buying, Lisa flatted in the suburbs of Mt Eden, Epsom and Grey Lynn. The Weekend Herald obtained all five previous addresses from a Baynet consumer credit search.

She now flats in Central Auckland.

She moved into the house, part-owned by one of the flatmates, this year and pays $100 rent plus expenses.

Lisa is an outgoing, sporty type. She is a registered member of the Health and Sports gym in Morningside, which has about 2000 members. A gym staff member said that under the Privacy Act they were not permitted to give out information, including confirmation of membership. However, this information - and the address of her Central Auckland flat - were provided by the staff member over the phone.

Her ACC records show the downside of her fitness regime. An ACC customer service representative at the 0800 inquiry centre told the Weekend Herald that to get their records a person must go into a branch office and present some form of identification such as a passport or driver's licence.

But as the representative talked, the information unfolded - read from a computer screen.

The data revealed a record of claims dating back to a dental injury in 1988. Other claims include sprain/strain of hand and wrist (twice) and thumb in 1992 and an ankle injury a year later.

The 1992 claims coincided with a dismal first year at Otago University, when her record is littered with fail, aegrotat and absent grades, suggesting that the hand and wrist injuries may have made it hard to write.

Her education records show the Gore-born former Southland Girls High School pupil was otherwise an above-average student. She graduated with Bachelor of Arts and Commerce degrees and a Diploma for Graduates in Management from Otago, with mainly A and B grades. The records were obtained from the university, in part using the established e-mail address.

Both of Lisa's parents are still alive. She has a younger brother and a sister, who is married with a daughter.

The minutiae of her private life, which shocked her most, came mainly from simple phone calls to her neighbourhood stores.

Two of the three video stores contacted by the Weekend Herald faxed details of what she had hired, even though Lisa uses her former partner's card in one. Videon refused to provide the information without a password.

Lisa is a regular video user, enjoying mainstream films rather than action or drama.

She is consistently late in returning videos.

In September 1999, she paid $34 to have her hair cut, "an inch off all over around face, vertical layers," according to computer records at Rodney Wayne Hairdressing, St Lukes.

She bought two $30 tickets from Ticketek for the ventriloquist Strassman's show at the St James Theatre on February 15. She belongs to the Automobile Association.

The St Lukes Family Planning clinic holds her "full" records, however a signed consent form is needed for these to be released.

Her Visa records also revealed a medical specialist she has been seeing.

Other personal financial details were reassuringly difficult to find out, as banks required customer identification numbers or account numbers.

But with her authority to use her WestpacTrust Visa card number - along with previously discovered public records such as date of birth and mother's maiden name - the Weekend Herald got a verbal list of recent transactions over the telephone.

They show Lisa owes $6213.36 on her account, shops at Foodtown Mt Eden, drinks wine, regularly uses taxis, flew to see her family in Invercargill this month and is not averse to a coffee at Starbucks.

She is obviously planning a trip overseas, having spent $2706.65 at the Newmarket Flight Centre and $104 at the Youth Hostel Association last month. A further $121 spent at the British High Commission indicates her destination is either Britain and/or Europe and is likely to be a working holiday.

She has no outstanding court fines.

Lisa has a work e-mail address and a Hotmail address. It was easy enough to find it - Lisa uses a common trick for her e-mail address - and get in.

The Weekend Herald spoke to - but did not engage - a hacker, who said a large number of people tended to use the word "password" or their middle names as their password. Lisa used "Maree."

Inside were the e-mail addresses of 49 family and friends, plus their nicknames. After she was told her e-mail had been accessed, Lisa changed the password. This could not be discovered.

Access to Lisa's e-mail would give a potential pursuer a huge ability to gather more information.

Her job history was uncovered under the guise of the Weekend Herald looking at employing Lisa.

She was a consultant for Sheffield Consulting Group, Auckland, from January 1997 to April 1999.

A person phoned at Sheffield disclosed that during this time Lisa and her former partner had a relationship problem. He moved to Australia 18 months later.

From May 1999 to June 2000, she was a trade business analyst for Meadow Lea Foods in Pakuranga.

This was one of the few organisations which requested that Lisa confirm that the information requested could be released. This was done via the established e-mail.

The Weekend Herald's investigation reveals that a complex picture of a person can be assembled by the easiest means.

It did not require private investigators, or sophisticated tracking devices or hacking into Government databases to uncover the most intimate details about an ordinary person.

If this newspaper can obtain so much through scrupulously controlled questioning, how much more could be found by the unscrupulous?

This information is out there - about you.

LISA BARBER


* Lists 49 friends on her Hotmail. We know their nicknames. We know the addresses.

* IRD owes her a tax refund of $383.43. She never knew until we told her.

* On February 15, 2000, she saw the ventriloquist Strassman at the St James. Sat in row A7, seat 6 in the Grand Circle.

* In 1992, she sprained hand and wrist in a sports accident. It was her first year at Otago University. Had to sit special exams because she could hardly write.

* Graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1995, a BA and a Diploma for Graduates in Management in 1997. Got 10 A grades.

* On November 4, she babysat a child. They watched videos, the Tweenies and Sesame Street tapes.

* Pays $100 rent. Has lived in five flats in Auckland.

* We know her gym, a medical specialist, a former hairdresser, all about her house, her former partner.

Herald Online feature: Privacy