Red Coat: Cut & Pasting Someone’s Digital Identity

The Wall Street Journal has a piece on how people are cut and pasting other people’s profiles for their social network and dating sites so they look more interesting. They report that a search on MySpace brought up more than 700 recent comments that accuse others of stealing headlines, user names, songs, background designs and entire profiles. Another survey on dating site Engage.com says that 9% of respondents have copied from another person’s profile. WSJ says:

Original souls who discover they have been replicated say it’s unethical and creepy. “I came across a guy who completely STOLE my profile message,” posts one woman in Michigan. “I mean he had to have copied and pasted the whole thing and then just changed gender specific things to fit his own!!”

The Cut-and-Paste Personality – WSJ.com