Runaway Future

Almost a month ago, I posted about my own fear and dangers of Facebook (wow has it been a month, this summer is going too fast and yet, I look forward to the stability and familiarity that the autumn always brings, and then suddenly, it will be spring again and we’ll repeat it all anew, or maybe this time everything will be different.).

As is always the case, something has come along to solidify those concerns further. As everyone knows, the next US presidential election race is heating up and so we have tired imagery of 9/11, freedom and terrorism being trotted out once again to scare the voters into voting one way or another (just recently, the boys and I played a drinking game, watching CNN and drinking each time terrorisim, 9/11 or freedom were mentioned. Then a bridge collapsed and suddenly we were out of booze).

Anyway, sadly as part of the political rhetoric and blatant tragedy hijacking that goes on as part of any presidential campaign, we have this curious story. It even made it’s way all the way to the BBC. For those to lazy to read, Rudy Giuliani (former NYC mayor during…guess what…9/11) is a top candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. His daughter joined a Barack Obama Facebook group(aka the other side of the US political coin, some might even call the Democrats the ‘heads’ side of the political coin, I just wonder if they give you a coin to flip before you go into the voting booth). Alright, ignore the fact that his daughter is only 17 and can’t actually vote and ignore the fact that she’s fundamentally estranged from her (there’s a reason she uses her mother’s last name and it’s not just for privacy). Wait, back up a second…privacy. Yeah, one of Slate’s reporters apparently goes to Harvard and because Guiliani’s daughter is going to Harvard soon, the intrepid reporter snooped her on Facebook and wrote a story about it.

Naturally, as soon as the daughter got the email from the reporter (no she was that cheesy that she tried to get a comment from the daughter using the Facebook messages), the daughter got out of the group and apparently her account is gone altogether now. Absolute crazy invasion of privacy, political posturing and making a story where there isn’t one.

Thankfully, the general public agrees and the Fray (Slate’s comment box) thread on this article is particular expressive. It even has a little comment from the Fray Editor:

Whoo, boy… you’re not happy about this article. A representative sample of feedback from the Fray follows.—G.A.

Alright, so there’s the story. Invasion of online privacy, making a story where there isn’t one, exploiting a teenager who has a strained relationship with her father to make some sort of stupid point. But there’s more.

Ready for it?

Here’s the rub: Facebook allows you to search for people. Any people. Any people on Facebook pretty much. So the author’s name is Lucy Morrow Caldwell and she apparently goes to Harvard. Type that name into Facebook and no one who goes to Harvard shows up. Same with Lucy Caldwell or Lucy Morrow. Get the punchline?

Someone either removed her Facebook profile or made it invisible for people to find on Facebook. Or maybe writes by a penname. Why? Well privacy, we have to assume. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the state of journalism today.