A Conversation with Claire Danes

Back in college, I was a social recluse and Internet junkie. I sat in my dorm room and chatted online with strangers on IRC (a text-based online chat service) every night. It wasn’t like Facebook or even AOL, where user names are tied to accounts and profiles. There was simply no way to confirm anyone’s identity, so you could be whoever you wanted. Quite often, especially in the local LA chat rooms, users would pretend to be celebrities. It was probably never true. Or so I thought. (more…)