That Twitter account 'documenting' his actions was actually mostly misdirection, except for very early posts - Evan confirmed this.
As for this being like real life, he was specifically trying to have a semi-normal life which included using social networks. Also, the reason we caught him - glossed over in the articles - was that he 'added' a Facebook application following the contest. After that, the Twitter was easy to find. The fact that he visited the app each day meant it was possible to track him in real time, We knew he was at the Denver airport while he was still there.
Summary: he made a mistake on Facebook, which made everything unravel for him although he didn't know it at the time. Although the New Orleans people he followed on Twitter suggested he would go there, what confirmed it was an IP from the area. I agree though that the challenges he was given were the reason we caught him so fast. Without it, though, we would have found him within the next month or so.
The only way he could have avoided getting caught was with extreme paranoia - using a totally different username for each site and similar.
Yeah, completely unrealistic -- basically just a publicity stunt from Wired. Someone who is really trying not to be found doesn't create a Twitter account describing his actions, protected or not.
You'd be surprised. There was a story where I live about a guy who got busted on a drug charge and fled. Changed his name, got a British passport, successfully lived in the UK for six years. He was found by local authorities on Facebook. He is now in jail for 25 years.
What real life lesson were you hoping to "infer" from the contest? "If I ever need to disappear completely, I hope this article tells me how to do so?"
I found the fact that he was actually found within 30 days, using interesting applications of technology, to be rather entertaining. Not everything on HN has to change your life.
Hm, I forgot they were running the contest, because all their article says is "Look at the other blog, they've got all the information." It looked like link spam.
