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Pauley Perrette: Abby from NCIS is NOT on Twitter

Social Identity Theft, Brand Impersonation, and Character Assassination

Those of us who watch the television series NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) on a regular basis are undoubtedly familiar with Pauley Perrette’s bubbly goth girl forensic specialist character Abby Sciuto. Today while searching the depths of YouTube for intriguing social media footage I came across a video monologue shot by Perrette disparaging social networks and the proliferation of celebrity impostors.
 
The intriguing part is not Perrette’s overwhelming frustration with individuals who impersonate her on popular social networking sites such as MySpace and Twitter, but rather where she goes on to say (frame 2:28) that social networking sites are “contributing to identify theft because [they] do not ask to verify someone’s identity before they create a profile.” While most social networks have strict policies on impersonations of any kind and will go through the steps to verify identities and terminate account based on such reports, to say that this should be done prior to creating a profile or account would quickly slit the wrists of any viable social media business model.
 
Rather than stating my opinions on identity verification in a Web 2.0 world, here is the video for you to check out. Comments have been closed on YouTube but please let us know what you think in our comment section below.