real-life pseudospoofing examples

17 Dec 2003

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I thought I'd try to unearth some real-world "pseudospoofing" just so
Mr. Detweiler and other interested in this could have other tangible
examples.

While I can't do justice (i.e. research further) to these items right
now, I've found two examples in the little digging I've done.

First, Mary Ann Evans published "Silas Marner" under the pseudonym of
"George Eliot."  She purposely chose a male name in order to
masquerade as a male since women couldn't be novelists at the time.
It is unknown how long she pulled this off, but nevertheless is an
example of someone who created a false identity in order to
deliberately fool others.

I don't know what the reasons were for Eric Blair (George Orwell),
Samuel Clements (Mark Twain), or Charles Dogdson (Lewis Carroll) to
publish under pseudonyms.

The second (possible) example of pseudospoofing was relayed to me by
my parents.  They live in Prince William Country, Virginia, where
apparently Walt Disney Company has announced plans to build another
amusement park.  A representative of Walt Disney Co. bought the land
over a period of several years, consistently misleading real-estate
agents as to his intention and who he worked for.  He claimed to be
based in Phoenix, Arizona, and often would head towards a different
terminal in Dulles airport in order to make business associates
beleive this.  Maybe he even flew there every once in a while, I'm not
sure (parents are mailing various articles to me).

Obviously, he did this in order to keep Disney from being screwed on
land prices.  He pseudospoofed to do it.  He created a false identity,
lied to others about it.

So I look forward to mention of the Walt Disney Company as a
many-tentacled, satanic practicing pseudospoofing, subversive criminal
organization.  Maybe even in the next issue of RISKS :-)

real-life pseudospoofing examples

Karl Lui Barrus