Kids aren't the only ones getting bitten by technology. Forbes compiled 20 stories that highlight how social media is making fools of adults too.
Staff Infection
Scott Graham meant to send spyware to his ex-girlfriend, but when she opened the e-mail attachment at work, it ended up infecting Akron, Ohio's children hospital instead. Some 1,000 screen captures later--information that included medical records and procedures--Graham is facing up to five years in jail.
Second Wife
Second Life is a virtual world where users can play out real-life fantasies. Little surprise, real love has resulted from virtual courtships. In the case of Amy Taylor in Newquay, England, it spawned heartbreak too. Taylor told the Western Morning News that she filed for divorce after walking in on her husband having a virtual affair on the service. The two met in a chat room and had held a marriage ceremony in Second Life.
"Facecrook"
The draw of social media is compelling--even when you're burglarizing a home. The Journal, a West Virginia newspaper, tells the story of how Jonathan Parker, a 19-year-old, was busted for felony daytime burglary after leaving his Facebook account logged into his victim's computer. He had apparently used the computer to check his Facebook status.
Indecent Proposal
Cheryl Smith's husband found a "hot singles" ad on his Facebook page that he'll never forget--the "hot single" was Smith herself. Facebook rushed to note the ad was from an outside advertiser, not the company, but the incident underscored what could happen if you keep loose privacy settings around the net.
Twittering Moran
President Obama knows first hand the consequences of loose lips and social media. In an off-the-record chat with the press, he told reporters that he thought a recent stunt by rapper Kanye West's was "inappropriate" and made him look like a "jackass." Nightline co-anchor Terry Moran tweeted the comment, then deleted the comment, but the presidential gossip spread like wildfire.
Relationship Status: Public
Neil Brady made his relationship frustration public--very public--after he asked his wife for a divorce on Facebook and the U.K.'s Daily Mail got wind of it. "Neil Brady has ended his marriage to Emma Brady," the status update read. Although the publication called the incident the world's first divorce by Facebook, it likely won't be the last.
You Tweet, You Lose
Graduate student Connor Riley was pondering whether to take a high-paying internship at networking giant Cisco and tweeted herself out of a job opportunity: "Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work." A Cisco employee spotted the post and informed Riley that she'd pass it along to her hiring manager. Riley told MSNBC that she had already turned down the opportunity.
Interested in You
People looking at your social network accounts can surmise a lot about you. A pair of MIT students showed that it's possible to guess sexual orientation based on their online friends. They call the project "MIT Gaydar."
Shooting Guns
Cody Redenius' ex-girlfriend saw him posing with a shotgun in a Facebook profile and reported it to local police in Dane County, Wis. Redenius was under a domestic abuse injunction that prohibited him from being in possession of a firearm. The photo was enough to get him arrested.
Fairy Tales
Banking intern Kevin Colvin told his bosses at Anglo Irish Bank that "something came up at home" and that he had to immediately return to New York. Major family emergency, right? Nope. Someone had tagged a Facebook photo of Colvin at a Halloween party wearing a fairy outfit and holding a can of beer.
Root Beer Bust
Police officers find out about under-age drinking parties from kids' event postings on Facebook. Dustin Zebro, an 18-year-old Wisconsin high school student, decided two can play that game: He threw a root beer kegger, and cops took the bait. Ninety breath tests later, all the party goers were cleared, but the "bust" was videotaped and uploaded to YouTube.
Chance Discovery
A strong smell isn't the only way to identify a large field of marijuana. Just ask the Swiss cops, who found a two-acre pot plantation using Google Earth, Google's satellite image mapping software. "It was an interesting chance discovery," the head of Zürich's specialist narcotics unit told reporters.
Engagement Ads
Facebook Beacon was a short-lived feature on the social network that grabbed a user's actions from around the net and reported them back on Facebook. The service irked many, but the blunder was perfectly illustrated in a post about a young man who purchased an engagement ring on Overstock.com. He saw his purchase broadcast to all his friends, including his would-be fiancé. Facebook has since shuttered Beacon and proposed a $9.5 million privacy fund as part of a related court settlement.
News Review
Google's Street View feature has made a number of accidental busts, like possible gunfire or the driver who hit and killed a deer while mapping the whole ordeal. Gawker blog network has covered them all, including a drug deal happening from all angles.
Street Crime
You can see some amazing things on Google Maps and Street View, but a 14-year-old Dutch boy saw something terrifying: pictures of himself getting robbed. The boy was previously unable to identify the individuals, but Google's Street View took care of that for him: The police recognized the thieving duo and ended up arresting them on suspicion of robbery.
Pot Luck
The swell of smart-phone photographers has given rise to a new population of paparazzi, and politicians have proposed a number of voyeurism laws to address the issue. The action didn't come soon enough for Olympian Michael Phelps, who was caught on camera with bong in hand.
In Recent Memory
Here's a memory British Intelligence likely will want to forget: Its photos of al-Qaida suspects ended up on eBay. The Nikon digital camera that stored them sold for around $30. Britain's Sun newspaper reports that its memory also contained names of al-Qaida members and fingerprints.
Software, Hard Time
Clark Kent beware, increasingly sophisticated facial recognition software can spot true identities--even if you have multiple ones. George Helms, a Midwest identity thief, is proof of that. Indiana's Bureau of Motor Vehicles used facial recognition software to pull up all of Helms' IDs, and the agency charged him with several counts of forgery.
Pressing Charges
Dan Lyons (aka "Fake Steve Jobs") isn't the only blogger who has been outed recently. Google recently revealed the identity of Rosemary Port, a user of the company's Blogger service. Model Liskula Cohen had sued Google to find out Port's identity after Port criticized Cohen on a blog called "Skanks in NYC."
Google War
The cruise missile spotted on Google Earth over Utah turned out to be a hoax, but the idea wasn't lost on Israel. Earlier this year, Palestine's Hamas claimed that Israel was using Google Earth to spy on them and target a missile offensive. And British officials say Google Earth maps have also been found in the homes of Iraqi insurgents.
