fimoculous:

I have had a lot of weird things happen to me, but this was probably one of the weirdest….

Over Xmas, someone started anonymously updating my blog. It was possible to do this because I had, at various moments over the past decade, given out password credentials to dozens of people.

Although it was very strange to have someone posting under my name — a sort of Gibson-meets-Anonymous death wish — I found myself not caring. Or well, to be honest, I was somewhat thrilled.

I have had a lot of time to think about this. I have a lot to say about the complexity, confusion, and humor of this, but I’m going to resist the impulse to drop 5,000 words with a theory-laden pomo moshpit about identity. I’ll just tell an anecdote instead….

Barry Ritholtz emailed me at some point last month to tell me how wrong I was about a post. I explained the situation to him, that “I” didn’t write it. He replied:

“You know enough about protecting online reputations. Change or cancel all of the old passwords; stop people from posting in your name!”

I stared at that for a while. Do I know enough about protecting online reputations? Does anyone?

Does it really matter if it is “me” updating my Twitter account or my Tumblr or my Facebook? Was it really me in the first place? Wasn’t it actually always you?

I never replied to Barry, because it occurred to me that he might not believe it’s me. From Wikileaks to Gawker password hacks to 4chan attacks to computers winning Jeopardy, it seems the slippery and unfixed nature of online identity has become the backdrop narrative of our time. I don’t see the story concluding anytime soon.

The anonymous ghost blogger, ADM (who always goes by his initials, and doesn’t like his name posted online), wrote a better post about all of this today. Go read that, on “my” “blog”:

Ghost, Blogging

Oh, thank God. For a moment there, I was worried Rex was trying to Welsh on our bet.