Law of the Weiner

[CG6468]

Weiner's Law
The Web makes it easier than ever to cheat—and easier than ever for cheaters to get caught.
By Farhad ManjooPosted Thursday, June 9, 2011, at 5:42 PM ET
We've all been there: Your late-night flirtation with one (or several dozen) of your Twitter followers has blossomed into something very close to love, and now you've been called upon to do something bold. Chocolates and flowers won't cut it, and an invitation to dinner seems antiquated. No, it's time to send her a picture of your penis.

Be careful now—this is a delicate moment in any budding romance. You could kill the mood by getting paranoid that your junk might end up all over the Internet. On the other hand, you don't want to regret this later. Hence the question of the day: Is it possible to send out photos of your body parts in a secure fashion, such that they're viewable only by the many, many objects of your affection but not the public at large? More generally, how can you—whether you're a Democratic congressman from New York, a Republican congressman from New York, a pro golfer, or an NFL quarterback—set up a liaison online without getting caught?

Short answer: You can't. The Internet was built for sharing, and if you send pictures, videos, or text to one person, you might as well cc: Andrew Breitbart. This is the paradox of the Internet-abetted illicit hook-up. Digital technology has made setting up a secret relationship easier than ever before. You can find someone to love on Craigslist, use your cellphone to snap and send her photographic evidence of your deep feelings, and then log on to Hotels.com to book a place to meet. Best of all, you can do it all from the privacy of your home or congressional office, all with your wife in the next room.

The trouble is, all these tools will record a trail of your misdeeds—there's your browser history, your phone's archive of photos and text messages, your damning e-mail inbox. If you're careful, you can minimize the danger that any of this stuff will leak. But being careful is inconvenient, and it's likely a turn-off to your paramours. Plus, however careful you are, you'll never eliminate the chance of getting busted. Call it Weiner's Law: As the volume of your X-rated tweets increases, the probability of your genitalia ending up on TMZ approaches 1.

Link to original article

[CG6468]

In other words, don't do it. There's no getting around Weiner's Law.