The Age of Innocence

I have always been a trusting person. I always believe that people are inherently good, I tend to look at the bright side of a story, and I see the glass half full. Even though I know not everything is trustworthy, I am still naively trusting. For that, my parents were worried that I would get myself in trouble, and my husband is concerned that I am living in such obliviousness. But it’s just part of my nature and I can’t help it.

Recently, something happened to me that is rather frightful: someone used my photo and information from my blogs to post on her profile in Yahoo! Personals. Here is a screenshot of that profile:

I was shocked to see my picture on someone else’ profile, and furious to learn someone stole my identity to advertise for men. Mostly, I was gravely distressed by such a fraud and its consequential effects. I have heard on the radio that “every three minutes, someone’s identity is stolen.” I thought it would never happen to me. But look, here it is!

What I don’t understand is if this person really wants to meet men, wouldn’t they find out eventually? Or perhaps she never intends to meet them in person? This reminded me of a cartoon of two dogs at a PC terminal in the New Yorker magazine that says: “On the Internet, nobody knows you are a dog.” I guess on the Internet, nobody knows I am Helen anyway :-(.

Thanks to Yahoo! Personals Customer Care, the profile was removed after I reported this identity theft case. I am sure there are hundreds and thousands of victims out there who are like me. I hope the appropriate actions will be taken to prevent such things from happening again.

We are not living in an “age of innocence.” I will never look at the Internet the same way I did before, and I will be much more discrete about putting things online. However, I will still be a trusting person. I will always believe that people are inherently good, I will still look at the bright side of a story, and I will see the glass half full!