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tom scottIn this short talk for Ignite, self-described Geek Comedian Tom Scott combines several real-world stories into a present-day scifi story that describes how information is passed around on the internet. In his example, someone records a cute video of a girl singing on Chatroulette. Then, he posts it to YouTube. From there, someone posts the video to the anarchic message board 4chan.

The video gets thousands of views and people are able to track down her name, location, Facebook and Twitter accounts. An angry ex-boyfriend posts her home address and then people start showing up at her house. From there, all hell breaks loose.

If you've ever wondered how people become internet celebrities, and how information is spread so quickly on the web, this video is a fantastic illustration.