In 1977, two American boys discovered that a local ice‑cream chain offered free birthday sundaes by mail, so they invented a fictional child named “Robert Alan Peters” to keep collecting the yearly treat. They filled out the birthday club form, listed their real home address, and for years received coupons addressed to their imaginary creation. The prank was harmless fun, just kids gaming a promotional system for a few extra sundaes. But in 1984, everything changed when a letter arrived from the Selective Service System ordering “Robert Alan Peters” to register for the draft. The boys, now older, were stunned: their fake child had somehow entered a federal database. The incident exposed that the U.S. government had quietly obtained and used the ice‑cream chain’s mailing list without permission, sparking public debate about privacy, data‑sharing, and how easily personal information could be swept into government systems long before the digital age.