I'm writing a novel (not planning to do this myself!) and I'm
intrigued by how much info can be obtained about individuals over the
internet.  My question: how would you create a scenario where two
people having an affair could be  worked out  by otherwise
disinterested bystanders using just info available in public records
or in searchable  data banks such as LEXUS/Nexus, Matrix etc.  Any
help?

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 13 Jan 2006 15:00 PST

It would be helpful to know a bit more about what you have in mind.

For all the information overload that the internet makes possible,
there's still a good deal of privacy in our lives.

Things like credit card charges, airline reservations, hotel
reservations, phone records --or other traditional hallmarks of a
possible affair -- are still pretty much private.  These records are
inaccessible online to anyone who doesn't have the proper passwords
(or a subpoena, but I don't think you're off in that direction,
right?), and no amount of Lexis-Nexis sleuthing is going to make them
available.


However, some things *are* public, and are much more accessible in the
information age.  If the parties involved in the affair purchase a
little pied-a-terre somewhere, then that real estate purchase becomes
publicly-accessible information.  If both their names are on the deed,
then one need not be a rocket scientist to tie the two people
together, regardless of how much they might deny it.


People who meet online -- in a forum or at a blog, say -- might also
leave an e-trail that is observable to others, depending on how
discretely (or not) the people behave.   This is especially the case
if someone sits down at the same computer used by one of the lovebirds
-- it's not uncommon for private information to unexpectedly pop up
from a cache in the computer's memory.



Another likely sort of scenario for an accidental
internet-stumbling-across-an-affair would be the case of an active
male bigamist, who is actually married to two different women, and
trying to live two separate lives in different communities, under the
same name in both.


So you see, knowing a bit more about what you have in mind would help
in fleshing out the details of a plausible scenario.

Let me know what you think,

pafalafa-ga

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Clarification of Question by lastlemming-ga on 13 Jan 2006 15:58 PST

That's kinda helpful, esp the internet "intercourse" and hospital
stuff.  The scenario is basically two people in a plane crash.  How do
you prove they have a relationship. . .  Recently we've had the
revelation that  you could buy most peoples telephone records.  ..so
that makes it kinda ridiculously easy but are there other sources?

As summaries of stories usually are, the gist sounds kinda stupid. 
Someone lays a false electronic trail to implicate two people in an
affair.

Again it's all made up so any wild idea, even those so wild they are
not exactly practical, would be appreciated.

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 14 Jan 2006 11:25 PST

LL-ga,

Here are a few sketchy sorts of scenarios.  Let me know which are of
the most interest, and I'll flesh them out as an answer to your
question.


1.  The lovebirds had purchased a lovenest, and a Lexis-Nexis-type
search on one (or both) of their names turns up the property.  With a
bit more sleuthing, it's confirmed that the property-holder and the
story's protagonist are one and the same.


2.  One of their cell phones survives the plane wreck.  The phone
contains their lover's phone numbers, as well as photos of the two of
them together.

3.  A search of personal effects reveals a slip of paper with a
cryptically-written web address, which turns out to be an online
personal manager (like, for instance, MyYahoo, which does email,
calendars, address books, etc).  With some creative guesswork, the
site and password is revealed, along with a tremendous amount of
information about their personal lives.


3.  Similarly, the sleuth manages to gain access to online accounts --
phone records, credit card accounts, emails -- because one of the
lovers has the bad habit of using the same username/password
combination for a wide variety of transactions.


4.  Googling their names turns up information that they attended
several of the same professional meetings together, which, after all,
is how they met, n'est ce pas?


5.  Through a remarkable twist of fate, the sleuth is able to sit at
the computer (office, home, laptop?) used by one of the lovers, and
accesses memory caches, search histories, images, etc. that are proof
of their relationship.


Let me know if any of these grab ya.


paf