Technology News: Prince victim of Identity Theft

By John Freeman on 8 February 2008

Morocco’s state run news agency is reporting that authorities in Casablanca have rounded up the usual suspects and arrested an engineer accused of stealing the identity of Prince Moulay Rachid on Facebook.

The prince, shown here perhaps at the moment he realized his reputation as “The King of Hearts” had earned him the friendship of thousands on the online social network, is the younger brother of King Mohammed VI and second in line to the throne.

Among many other duties he is president of President of Marrakech International Film Festival Foundations, and has been focusing much of his programs on the need to bridge the North-South and East-West divide.

“The clash of civilizations has no place in Marrakech, Morocco since public appreciates as much as Hollywood or Bollywood films as they do appreciate Moroccan films,” he recently told the German press. (This doesn’t stop Morocco’s authorities barring access to sites that might offend the King, as they did with YouTube for a time last year – a bar now lifted. I’m guessing Facebook isn’t very popular right now, either).

I can see British journalists picking up on this and scouring Facebook for Prince Charles or the Queen’s profile even now. The closest they may come is to the “Campaign for the Return of Prince Charles’ Moustache“or links to news stories about the Prince’s decision not to attend the Olympic Games in Beijing, posted by a Free Tibet Group.

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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.