No, this is not a post about identity theft. Instead, it is a post about multiple identities under the same name, none of whom are me, and how having a blog name liked Edwired can lead to a certain amount of confusion about there in the digital universe.
Take, for example, a certain Edwired on Barackobama.com. He, at least, is in the right general age cohort, but I am a little worried that he is only in 12,856th place on the points list on that site (whatever that means). I like my alter egos t0 be a bit more competitive.
Then there is a certain Edwired on bebo.com. I’m hoping the picture alone will be enough to convince blog readers that Eddie and I are not the same person.
Last, but I’m sure not least, is Edwired on Livejournal.com. This person hasn’t posted anything since 2004, so I think we can consider his or her account inactive.
I’m sure there are more Edwireds out there. Just remember. They aren’t me.
This post sounds like the opposite of ClaimID.com where you attribute websites to your OpenID username. I haven’t seen anything to this effect, but maybe it’d be useful to formally DISclaim the identities of other internet users as well. This could once and for all clear up the confusion between me and another Dave Lester – the anarchist musician who lives on the West Coast. For the record, we are not the same person.
We frequently discuss the dangers of putting our personal information on the web, and what is or isn’t appropriate to blog about, write on your Myspace page, etc. Perhaps we should also be concerned about the information that others are putting online that could be attributed to you? At the same time, it seems unmanageable to to meticulously disclaim the identities of everyone else who shares your screenname on the Internet.
Maybe there’s common ground that can be meet. I think Googling the first 20 websites for people who share your name and claiming or disclaiming them could help alleviate some confusion. Great idea for a post.
I suppose someday I should point out all the Mark Stonemans that I am not. One would think it is obvious, but . . .