Lonelygirl15: just another web scam

Who is Lonelygirl15? Since June 16, an elphin teen who calls herself Bree and claims to be 16 has enchanted a growing online audience with her bedroom webcam blog.

More than 600,000 fans have been logging-in to Lonelygirl15 on the YouTube.com and MySpace.com sites. She has become the star of the internet.

But is she real? That is the question that has driven an internet phenomenon. Was 'Bree' the work of an actress? Was this some pernicious experiment in subliminal advertising - perhaps for a movie that hasn't been made yet? In the entertainment business, they kill for figures like 600,000 hits.

Today, all is revealed. Lonelygirl15, we now know, wasn’t so lonely. She is a graduate of New York Film School, left her teens a year ago, and is named Jessica Rose. A

This lonely teen web star was not what she appeared to be, reveals charles laurence

scriptwriter/director and a would-be producer made her blogs with her, hidden behind a cheap Logitech QuickCam camera.

Does that end Lonelygirl15's story? Her blogs built a narrative that had us fearing for her innocence, if not her life. Why was there a picture of Aleister Crowley, the old devil worshipper, above her dresser? What was the strange religious ceremony she said she had been "chosen" for?

But does anyone care anymore? Maybe. As the always-hip New York magazine declared at the height of the chase, Lonelygirl15 is a "new art form" if nothing else.

It was the mystery behind Bree that had not only bloggers but the mainstream media hunting for clues. Blogger-detectives were suspicious of Lonelygirl's production values from the start. She had some pretty slick editing moves. And her teenage

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