Paul Papadimitriou

Among the first things reporters do when a non-public persona surges into the spotlight for something as big as the UBS rogue trading crime is search through Facebook “Friend” lists to get insight into the person. It’s actually the first thing IBTimes did this morning, for instance — sending e-mails to many among Adoboli’s Facebook “Friend” list.

The fact is that it’s also what I did. As soon as the name popped up in news articles, I went to look on his Facebook profile —but also on LinkedIn. Macabre curiosity. I’m not looking for excuses here.

It’s only the nature of the job of journalists: they will try to find a glimpse of who is the alleged criminal through what he willingly displayed online, but might also try to contact acquaintances on social networks to learn more. It doesn’t make any of his connections suspects of any crimes obviously, but I understand how uncomfortable this situation could be for the 419 of his ‘Friends’.

One cannot hide from another Friend list. It’s a decision that isn’t taken by third parties. For instance, having a public profile myself, everyone can see who is linked with me on Facebook. I’m okay with it, but I don’t know about every single one of my connections.

It is again a case of the reversal of the private sphere. What was private by default —no one had a list of my acquaintances— is now public by default.