It seems that there isn’t a form of technology that people won’t corrupt for nefarious purposes.

Cell phones are chock-full of features like built-in cameras, personalized ring tones and text messaging. They also gave a real boost to Kenny Hall’s effort to cheat on his girlfriend.

Hall, a 20-year-old college student in Denver, decided in March to spend a weekend in nearby Boulder with another woman. He turned to his cell phone for help, sending out a text message to hundreds of other cell phone users in an “alibi and excuse club,” a network of 3,400 strangers who help each other skip work, get out of dates or give a loved one the slip.

Assistance came instantly. A club member, on receiving Hall’s message, agreed to call the girlfriend. He pretended to be the soccer coach from the University of Colorado at Boulder and said that Hall was needed in town for a tryout.

I’m guessing that Mr. Hall’s relationship with his girlfriend has ended, given his candor in this article.  Anyhow, one of the “advantages” they mentioned to this anonymous alibi club is that it keeps your friends out of it, thereby avoiding the potential that they’ll forget which lie to tell at an inopportune moment. 

Of course, when dealing with strangers there could be potential dangers.  However, Hall’s first concern seems a bit ironic, given his intended actions.

Another problem, which even alibi club members admit, is that other members may not be entirely trustworthy. Hall, the student in Denver, said that when he gave away his girlfriend’s phone number to a stranger, he worried that the stranger might do more than make an excuse.

”I didn’t want him hitting on her or telling her what I was up to,” Hall said. But now he is a believer in the power of the cell-phone-assisted alibi. “It worked out good, actually.”