One Year After Debunking Breitbart's "Slander," CNN Welcomes Him Back As Newsmaker

Hoosier,

I would like to ask you a question.

Have you ever been the victim of identity theft?

I have.

Now, generally, i dont like sharing my personal narratives on the web (precisely because of the issue of hackers), but in this case I would like to make an exception, and share with you (as amicabally as we can be with one another) my own experinces in this regard.

On two separate occasions, my back accounts were hacked into, and overdrawn for a ridiculously large sum that threw me straight into red in a big (almost crippling) way.

I was (and, even several years since, still am) very alarmed by the whole affair. It really just makes me mad. Even to this day.

But on both occasions, when I reported it, i was told that the bank would handle everything.

I was told that it was their issue, and then was given an new account with all my funds reimbursed, and a sparkling new PIN. But it still burns me up that I dont know who did it... and that it could have happened twice. It angers me even more that some creep has my personal info. I mean, what if he strikes again, or tries to use my identity for something else?

But apparently, the banks policy is to pursue the investigation and charges thmselves. I just had to give them written testimony.

I dont like that process at all, because I really want to be in-the-know about what went down. But I dont have a choice. Bank policy is legal policy.

This same thing happened to my dads gmail account online. Someone took his identity and sent messages to everyone in his address book about my dad desperately needing money.

He was able to get his gmail account cleared and terminated, but the authorities at Google told him that it was their investigation, which they would take full responsibilit for.

He filed the proper reports with them (as I did with the bank) and then heard nothing more about it.

Like me, I know it burns him up that he cant find out more.


Also, on two well-known news-related web sites (I dont know if I should give their proper names, so I wont... lets just say they are popular), I had experienced a couple of very invasive assaults on my own privacy.

In both cases, i was arguing about Andrew Breitbart and James OKeefe, much like I do here on MMFA (which, for the record, is not one of times I am talking about.)

In both cases, other users on the sites (who were staunch advocates for Andrew Breitbart and James OKeefe) tried (very clumsily) to ferret out my location and post it online. They were trying (for some crazy reason) to prove that I was an ACORN employee (I am not, and never had been) and, despite being Breitbart fans who claim to hate invasive government, actively tried to find out where I live and post the info on these two sites.

Again, I reported the matter to the sites administration, and they told me that it was now their problem, and that they would handle it.

Other than the fact that one of the user accounts in question was terminated after I reported the matter, I know nothing about how the attempted invasion of my privacy (and i am certainly no famous person or governmental worker) by politically motivated hackers. The sites told me it was their issue and they would handle it.

So please, think about how hacking really is handled before you attempt to speculate with such animated gusto on this story. Remember, things happen in the offline world, and sometimes arent meant for tabloid titilation.

For example, there has been a lot of Drama in the Sherrod-Breitbart court case. Andrew Breitbart was recently trounced by Sherrods lawyers for trying to shift venues a second time.

But has websites offered any updates? Absolutely not.

He is very mum about the whole thing, probably becuase its not going in his favor... but who am I to say?

The right has certainly been quite accepting when both James and Andrew claim they cant or wont address important questions in their own scandals.