Consistent with my view that even public figures have some right to a private life, I didn’t blog about an anonymous first-person account of a so-called “one night stand” with Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell that was published on Gawker yesterday. But today, Kashmir Hill of Forbes points us to a story about how the identity of the anonymous man was unmasked that is somewhat instructive on privacy:
The Philadelphia man who gave Gawker his exclusive account of a “one-night stand” with Christine O’Donnell yesterday did so anonymously. As we at Forbes
gossipedanalyzed the piece journalistically, we wondered how long the man’s anonymity would last. The answer: less than 24 hours.
Read more on Forbes and follow the links, but the bottom line is that a sudden attempt to disappear from social media may be evidence of a guilty conscience these days. In this case, did trying to have less information online result in less privacy?