Word: joel
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...When Joel returned, I could look over his shoulder as he surfed the Net. It was weird but oddly riveting to see his cursor click, click, click its way across my screen. But in the end, there were no busty babes, no Catholic school girls looking for trouble. He actually spent most of his time on CNN.com...
Then he started opening his e-mail. The first was from our boss, about Joel's next column. I liked being a snoop in the loop. Another was from Joel's girlfriend's brother asking Joel to score free concert tickets. Then a chain e-mail from a few of our co-workers, with snarky comments about someone else on our floor they evidently don't like. Ah, isn't this what computer spying is all about...
...also had Joel's Social Security number, the keys to the kingdom. Those digits would be enough on some websites to get me a driver's license in his name--and to start a full-scale identity theft. Before long, I could be ruining his credit rating, draining his bank accounts, and--well, you get the idea...
...editors, darn them, insisted that I tell Joel what I was doing. (I can't help thinking he trashed some good stuff before I started spying.) Not that it would have been difficult to really spy on Joel at his home computer. I could have sent him spyware wrapped in an e-greeting card, programmed to install itself when he opened the card. He'd never know...
When I was done spying on Joel, I gave him a quick rundown on what I had seen. He was fine about the book proposal. He'd been having second thoughts about it anyway. He had an explanation for the $112.76 that involved the high price of American CDs in Iceland. And he pointed out that he had not added to the snarky e-mail about our co-worker. All he did was read it. Then he told me that for the good stuff I should have spied on his home PC. That's where he does his most interesting...