In between dodging mortar shells in Libya, Hadeel Al-Shalchi, Middle East Correspondent for the Associated Press documents a personal battle over her online identity.
Yesterday was like any other day for Hadeel, filled with death and danger.
| “ | Drs at the field hospital say 6 dead and 54 injured from the rev forces' side today #libya #baniwalid |
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| “ | #Gadhafi forces have brought reinforcements from #Sirte to #BaniWalid, accdg to Abdullah Kenshil, rev spox in BW |
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| “ | Morale a bit shaky this morning at the Northern front of #BaniWalid after yesterday's tough attack #Libya |
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Until...
| “ | Someone has created a fake twitter account using the letter I (eye) to replace the L in my last name. |
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| “ | You can tell THIS is the real account because my name is hadeeL aLshalchi. No "i" in my twitter handle |
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| “ | @hadeelalsh wtf someone is pretending to be you? Gamda ya Hadz. |
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| “ | Pro-#Gadhafi propagandists have stolen my twitpic, description etc to spread lies I am not tweeting. Please be careful. |
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| “ | This is the fake account created with info of AP's reporter Hadeel now in Libya: @hadeeialsh ...this is the correct one: @hadeelalsh |
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This fraud had been spotted by a regular tweep - one of the small ways people outside the action can be of service to those risking their lives to bring us news.
| “ | Thanks so much to @elharaty for bringing this to my attention |
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The obvious thing to do, is get your account verified, right?
| “ | I'm going to verify this account |
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| “ | LOL @elijahzarwan @hadeelalsh you haven't really hit the big time till someone pretends to be you. Congrats, and condolences |
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| “ | Thx to all who reported @hadeeialsh as spam/impersonator. Pro-#gadhafi trying to tweet propaganda as me. |
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| “ | @support @spam please remove fake account @hadeeialsh sending Gaddafi propaganda under name of AP reporter @hadeelalsh, who covers Libya. |
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Wrong.
(unless you are a "celebrity" or "public figure", etc)
| “ | Shoot. I can't verify my account. Ugh |
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Plan B
Another opportunity for Twitter's army of observers to lend a helping hand:
| “ | There are actually more than one account impersonating me. Pls report all combinations of my handle with an i replacing the L. |
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Oops!
| “ | @rqskye @Support dude i'm a SHE |
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And so.. back to the other war
| “ | OK back to work _ the REAL hadeeL was at attacked by mortars at the northern gate of #BaniWalid couple of hrs ago #libya |
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Wouldn't it be great if WE could decide who was worthy of a "Verified" badge?
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