Social Identity Theft

In the web 2.0 world of repurposing content, this seems to take things way too far:The Cut-and-Paste Personality

The Cut-and-Paste Personality
Lacking inspiration and a moral compass, some online daters
are borrowing other people’s witty Web profiles.

These identity thieves don’t want your money. They want your quirky sense of humor and your cool taste in music.

Among the 125 million people in the U.S. who visit online dating and social-networking sites are a growing number of dullards who steal personal profiles, life philosophies, even signature poems. “Dude u like copied my whole myspace,” posts one aggrieved victim.

Now, it would be interesting if someone claimed a copyright on their online profile — there does seem to be a modicum of creativity there. And then sent a takedown request like Comedy Central does when people post Daily Show videos to Youtube.

Would there be a fair use to copying online dating and social networking profiles?

Posted: February 17, 2008 in:

2 Comments »

  1. [...] My Private Thoughts wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt In the web 2.0 world of repurposing content, this seems to take things way too far:The Cut-and-Paste Personality The Cut-and-Paste Personality Lacking inspiration and a moral compass, some online daters are borrowing other people’s witty Web profiles. These identity thieves don’t want your money. They want your quirky sense of humor and your cool taste in music. Among the 125 million people in the U.S. who visit online dating and social-networking sites are a growing number of dullards wh [...]

    Pingback by Dating Advice - Anything ‘08 : Blog Archive : Social Identity Theft — February 17, 2008 @ 9:30 pm

  2. I wouldn’t be appalled if somebody have stolen my profile. So what if somebody lack imagination? As they say in my country “let the children play”.

    Comment by Single Ukrainian Bride — May 15, 2008 @ 9:31 am

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