Interesting piece at P2PNet.net by Annalee Newitz that points out that social networking sites are fairly lax in their security provisions, which makes it possible for your identity to be compromised. An interesting argument is made, suggesting that the reason behind identity spoofing is perhaps the value of a digital reputation, rather than something directly fungible, like your credit card number.

"What makes these attacks novel in the context of a social discovery site isn't how they are deployed, but why. What does an attacker have to gain by spoofing the identity of a member of Tribe or LinkedIn? What kinds of damage can be done by hacking into a LiveJournal account? The answer has to do with the public's growing dependence on social reputation systems. As we come closer to quantifying reputation, the identities we use in online communities begin to have real-world value. A top-ranked member of a network like eBay might be able to sell more items than her peers. A high-karma user on a site devoted to legal issues could have a tremendous influence over public policy. According to social networks analyst Clay Shirky, identity spoofing is possibly the greatest threat to social discovery networks. "When your reputation is valuable, it becomes worth exploiting. It makes a stolen identity a more valuable commodity.""