Friday, September 20, 2013

Our First Champion Liar's Award




Very often people live an encapsulated existence. They work, play, and worship with individuals as much like themselves as possible. There's nothing really wrong with that, and even much of that is not by choice, but by nature of the individual's education and career. Then there's the Internet.

In the past 10 to 15 years, the Internet has opened most of us up to new friends...and unfortunately to some we would never choose to associate with in real life. We've become aware of many who support child abusers and rapists, so to encounter some who support those who drink, drive, and kill should be no surprise to us, although it usually is.

We recently published several blogs about a young man who killed his girlfriend in a fiery crash. No matter how good a person this man may be, he still has to answer to the legal powers that be for this young woman's death. Due to complaints from his supporters, our Facebook page was changed to that of a Public Figure last week. Apparently about ten private messages which were sent over a period of time suddenly appeared today on the current Shoalanda Speaks page.

Those who have read our blog for a long time know that we don't use the names of individuals who are not public personages in some way. This would include bloggers, politicians, elected officials, and those who have been arrested/indicted/convicted of a crime. We thought long and hard about that policy today when we received the following message on our FB page:

Hehe. I traced this IP address (well the one for Shoalanda Speaks Blog). It came back to XXXXX XXXXXX. Well I spoke with Mr. XXXXXX and he gave me your first name and cell phone number, because I told him I would like to advertise. I paid to join a website and traced your cell phone number. Just letting you know that I know what your real name. Thanks. And tell Mr. XXXXXX thanks for the help.

That little message contained at least five lies. Let's look at them:

1. I traced this IP address (well the one for Shoalanda Speaks Blog). In order to even have, much less trace, any IP address that Shoalanda has used, one would first have to contact Blogger with a subpoena. One is not going to get a subpoena issued by a judge without hiring an attorney, and you'd better have a very good reason to ask for one in the first place.

2. It came back to XXXXX XXXXXX. No blog has ever been posted from any location belonging to that gentleman, whom we know only online. 

3. Well I spoke with Mr. XXXXXX. The person you referred to has no knowledge of such a call or conversation.

4. he gave me your first name and cell phone number, because I told him I would like to advertise. - Even if you had contacted the gentleman, there's no reason for him to give you any info on any of us since we do not handle our own advertising.

5. I paid to join a website and traced your cell phone number. Just letting you know that I know...your real name. No cell phone companies make their subscribers known without a subpoena--there's that darn word again.

The woman who wrote that message wins our Champion Liar's Award, but what else? Nothing else because we (and probably most of us) don't have the psychological problems she seems to have. What if we did?

Young lady, do you not realize you used your real name to send the message? Tuscumbia is a small town--it wouldn't take much to locate your workplace and discover your supervisor's name. Most employers want just a tad of honesty in their employees. If we contacted him/her, they might not even tell you, but you can be sure your work ethic would forever after be more highly scrutinized and your chances at any promotion a lot lower than they were before.

You might also want to remember in future that not everyone will be as tolerant of your lies as we are being...just some food for thought.

*****

For those who have asked, we have not had any update on the physical condition or arrest of John Clark Burns Jr.



Shoalanda

6 comments:

  1. Hey, Shoalanda.

    While I can not speak to the truthfulness of your message writer, it is fairly easy to get someone's IP address. There are numerous websites that will do it for you.

    If you already have the IP address, the sites will give you detailed info for free (Althouigh not your personal name.) If you have an email address only, the site will give you a hit of some sort, then request a fee for details.

    I've never cared enough about another's IP address to pay money for it, so I can't vouch for exactly what info is provided.

    I used one of those site, tho, to get my own IP address and the info related to it. That was free.

    If you're interested, just type "IP address lookup service" in your browser. Lots of sites come up.

    Deb

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  2. Oh. If your cell phone number is obtained, one can get an amazing amount of information about the cell phone user. There is a fee for those details. One just needs to access a "cell phone number reverse lookup" website.

    Really, there's very little info that can't be easily found these days if one is intent on finding it.

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    1. I've seen those, but they just seem to tell what city and what carrier--no names. The really funny thing is that my service is pay as you go and the carrier doesn't even have my name on record.

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  3. I can tell you why Burns' friends are protecting him. His grandfather founded Burnscraft boats and they have a lot of money. There's usually a rotter in every rich family and I suppose this Clark Burns is it in his family. I hope the dead girl's family sues him for every penny he hopes to make after he gets out of prison.

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    1. We anticipate Burns will do five years, but if he has the money you say, his family will simply pay whatever the courts may award the Underwood family, and he will go on with his life as if it never happened. The price of alcohol...

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    2. So now we know why the Timesdaily never mentioned much about it... Hopefully he will get a lot more than 5 years in prison and someone in there will teach him a lesson. If it was my daughter that was with him 5 years would not be enough

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