Dark Bilious Vapors

to the old principle that you should never say anything in email that you wouldn't want to see quoted on the front page of the New York Times. Perhaps we should also note that you should never let yourself be captured on digital video doing anything that you don't want everyone to see on the World Wide Web. The Register teaches us that "revenge is a dish best served online", as it tells us about the spurned boyfriend/aspiring porn director who got his revenge against his girlfriend:

It seems that one of the most dangerous things you can do in a relationship is make a video of yourself and your loved one getting jiggy with it. It will almost certainly come back to haunt you; a fact which one Clara Whitehouse has learned the hard way, the Sun reports.

Her ex, Paul Clarke, clearly enraged that she had ditched him for another, got his revenge by posting just such a video online, for all the world to see. It used to be that only celebritites (Pammy and Paris, fr'instance) needed to worry about that sort of thing.

He followed this up by making sure as many people as possible were aware of the site - by handling out flyers advertising it at Clara's 21st birthday party. He also had them sent to her workplace and delivered to her neighbours.

A very thorough marketing campaign, we're sure you'll agree, that resulted in around 300 visits to the site before it was taken down. (We note that had he begun an email campaign, that figure would almost certainly have been higher)

Devilishly devious, yes, but also rather self-defeating as Paul ended up in the dock and has admitted harassment. The case was adjourned for reports before sentence.

Len on 08.16.04 @ 06:20 AM CST