I know Rep. Mark Foley is old news by now. I thought I knew everything about it until I saw Poynter's article reflecting on the investigative story. Did you know ABC broke the news on Brian Ross's Blog? According to an interview with Brian Ross, ABC got the story by calling for sources on their Web site. More than one former page came forward with IM chatlogs hours after the appeal was posted. When ABC confronted the Rep? He didn't even squirm. He resigned a few hours later.
Though I think he made the right choice, I am a little disapointed he chose not to fight the legality of these charges. I have no idea how something like this could be proved in court. They'd have to ascertain that 1) Foley's screen-name of "maf54" was indeed representative of Foley's virtual self and 2) that no one else had access to the Rep.'s screen name... Right? I mean... these chat logs are three years old, some of them. Chat logs are easy enough to fake and the Net is anonymous. I guess I just worry that flimsy virtual evidence can be used in court. In this case, I'm not doubting his guilt, and I'm glad I don't have to. But computer crimes are still pretty new in court. What presedence has been set?
Another interesting Blog tidbit: Sac State has a blog "for students" that has turned out to be just a PR mouthpiece about "why I chose Sac State." Can I trust a student blogger who has agreed to ty to make Sac State look good? No! It's another example of an industry trying to be hip and they really do it all wrong. Grr! Arg! It makes me want to rebel and proclaim to the world how much Sac State does wrong.
In further blog news, Gutterblog from China has begun to blog again. She's a "reporter without borders" and she's the voice of freedom in that often-censored part of the world; check her out sometime!
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