Wired writer Evan Ratliff is on the lam and Wired is holding a contest to find him. The prize is $5000 and your photo in the magazine.
Starting August 15, I will try to stay hidden for 30 days. Not even my closest friends or my editors will know where I am. I'll remain in the US and will be online regularly. I will continue to use social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, and I'll make cell phone calls. I'll generally stay in the kind of social environment I like to live in (no hiding in a cabin in Montana), and I'll keep track of my pursuers, searching constantly for news about myself.
Wired is keeping a blog detailing Ratliff's breadcrumb trails (emails, IP addresses, CC purchases). Ratliff himself wrote an article for the most recent issue of Wired called Gone Forever: What Does It Take to Really Disappear? which is well worth the read.
Update: Robert Sharp tracked a friend through London using only Twitter updates and caught up with him at the bar of his hotel.
Update: Evan Ratliff has been found, felled in part by his love of pizza with gluten-free crust.
Update: Now that he's been caught, the story of what Ratliff was up to all that time is worth reading...
the costume changes are hilarious.
