The War of the Roses in the digital era

Lies, Damned Lies And Facebook Evidence Get FBI Involved In Divorced Couple’s Spat
[Via Techdirt]

In a story that sounds like a movie plot with a few extra twists in it, last week a man, David Voelkert, was arrested for putting a GPS device on his ex-wife’s car. The backstory behind this is that the ex-wife, Angela Voelkert, had created a fake Facebook profile of a 17-year-old girl, named Jessica Studebaker, and then befriended David to try to “get him to talk” in a way that would provide her ammo in their custody battle. We’ve been hearing how Facebook evidence has become pretty standard these days in divorce cases, so I guess creating a fake persona to try to dig out some extra info is the obvious next step. David Voelkert was apparently extremely forthcoming with the fake teen, telling her how he had put a GPS device on Angela’s car, and said something about harming Angela. He also spoke of taking his kids and “disappearing.” Angela reported this to the authorities, and the FBI stepped in and arrested David over the GPS tracking while investigating the rest.

And that’s where the case turned strange.

After holding him for four days, federal prosecutors have dropped all charges against David. Amazingly, he provided them with a sworn affidavit that he’d had notarized before all of the incriminating messages were sent to “Studebaker,” a letter saying that he believed his wife was behind the account and was trying to “tamper” with his life:

I received a friend request from a one Jessica Studebaker. From the start of that friend request, I was under suspicion that it was not a real person, but my ex-wife or someone she knows. I am talking to this ‘person’ on Facebook via messages through the Facebook mail system. I am lying to this person in extent to gain positive proof that it is indeed my ex-wife trying to again tamper in my life. Anything said in the chat to her from me cannot be held as truth and I am chatting to this person in attempts to prove to my court that my ex-wife will not leave my personal life alone…. The lies that I am placing in this chat is for her to bring such up in court on the 8th day of June, 2011. I need proof what my ex-wife has been doing…. In no way do I have plans to leave with my children or do any harm to Angela Dawn Voelkert or anyone else….

Federal officials checked with the person who notarized the letter, confirming that it was indeed written and signed prior to the messages actually being sent… and realized that they had no case at all.

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The War of the Roses is a bitter satire about divorce. Here we see perhaps the middle part of a true ‘War of the Roses’ .

She creates a false persona online to trap him. He gives this persona all sorts of incriminating facts – all false – that she tries to use against him.

But he has an affidavit, duly notarized, stating that he was turning her sock puppet against her. Nice move. Now he has proof she is still trying to ‘get’ him.

Even though the divorce is over, the high tech shenanigans continues. I wonder what her next response will be? Hacking his Wi-fi and downloading child porn? Hacking his yfrog account and posting obscene comments on his Twitter account? Getting ICE to shut down his online sites?

These look like names to remember.

Why adaptation is just a critical as innovation

[Crossposted at SpreadingScience]

by szeke

Why Apple blinked
[Via Brainstorm Tech: Technology blogs, news and analysis from Fortune Magazine » Apple 2.0]

An analyst offers three reasons Apple relaxed its rules for App Store subscriptions

Scott Forestall demoing iOS 5′s Newsstand. Source: Apple Inc.

RBC’s Mike Abramsky was the first analyst out of the gate Friday to comment on Apple’s (AAPL) decision to make it easier for publishers and other content partners to offer in-app subscriptions.

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This is not a case of blinking. It is not a game of chicken when a 21st century company is involved.

Companies of the industrial age play a zero sum game. Companies of the 21st play a win-win scenario.

Apple presented a policy that it felt was fair and beneficial to its customers. Which it was.

But the policy also hampered the collaborators that Apple depended on to make the subscription policy work, and to increase the reach of the App store.

Apple usually puts it customers first, something quite unusual these days, but does recognize more and more the importance of its collaborators.

Here, it listened to its collaborators and found a way to adapt its policy to create a win-win for everyone.

Too many analysts still try and describe Apple as if it was a company of the last century. They fail to see the real shape of the future here.

Apple strives to find the sweet spots of win-win. 21st Century companies adapt to create non-zero sum results.

You can also see this with their general business approach. All other hardware manufacturers play zero sum games – they have to gain market share and can only do that by taking it away from someone else. Profits seem to disappear in this setting though.

Apple plays a non-zero sum game – they are happy to have a falling part of a growing market, as long as they keep getting more profits.

Thus, Apple may only have a very small percentage of the cell phone market (4%) but they hold the majority of all the profits.

Which is more sustainable in the end? That is what a 21st century company can accomplish.

Who knew My Little Pony was so much fun?

WATCHPONIES: Watchmen/My Little Pony mashup
[Via Boing Boing]

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Apparently there is quite a large fan base of adults – I can see how a show which includes Sondheim songs might appeal to adults. But this is a great trailer.