This story at the BBC reveals how an Australian journalist, kidnapped in Baghdad was able to establish his identity by getting his kidnappers to look him up with Google. Convinced that he was just an innocent journalist, they then let him go.
Earlier, I have mused about how I could do this myself. What if I had to establish my identity for suspicious immigration officials when entering a country? It wouldn’t be hard: great chunks of my academic career are visible on the Web. My earliest “official” presence is probably a technical report from my time in Wellington. Cambridge and Australia links are even easier to find.
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