Finding Fuboy: one man spent four years and $35,000 to unmask his internet troll
On December 28th, 2011, Bill Hadley read the comments. It was a simple article in the Freeport Journal Standard, detailing Hadley's run for a newly vacant seat on the county board. But the commenters were less polite. "Hadley is a Sandusky waiting to be exposed," a commenter called Fuboy had written. "Check out the view he has of Empire [elementary school] from his front door."
It was a rude but not unusual comment, in line with the ad hominem hostility often found in comments sections. But for Hadley, this comment crossed the line, and he set out to find the person behind it. His quest to unmask Fuboy set off a four-year legal saga that would send shock waves through Freeport's legal and political community.
At the time, Hadley was returning to county politics after three years in private practice. A lifelong Republican, he had served on the Stephenson County Board from 2002 to 2008. When a board member resigned in 2011 after getting caught living outside the county, Hadley decided to make a play for the now-open seat. He was particularly critical of a recent bond that had borrowed $5.5 million to finance an industrial park called Mill Race Crossing. "Just watching some of the County Board meetings made my blood pressure rise," he told The Journal Standard in the article that inspired Fuboy's comment. "We’re pushing the debt off way down the road to our children and grandchildren. This is not being fiscally responsible."
On December 28th, 2011, Bill Hadley read the comments. It was a simple article in the Freeport Journal Standard, detailing Hadley's run for a newly vacant seat on the county board. But the commenters were less polite. "Hadley is a Sandusky waiting to be exposed," a commenter called Fuboy had written. "Check out the view he has of Empire [elementary school] from his front door."
It was a rude but not unusual comment, in line with the ad hominem hostility often found in comments sections. But for Hadley, this comment crossed the line, and he set out to find the person behind it. His quest to unmask Fuboy set off a four-year legal saga that would send shock waves through Freeport's legal and political community.
At the time, Hadley was returning to county politics after three years in private practice. A lifelong Republican, he had served on the Stephenson County Board from 2002 to 2008. When a board member resigned in 2011 after getting caught living outside the county, Hadley decided to make a play for the now-open seat. He was particularly critical of a recent bond that had borrowed $5.5 million to finance an industrial park called Mill Race Crossing. "Just watching some of the County Board meetings made my blood pressure rise," he told The Journal Standard in the article that inspired Fuboy's comment. "We’re pushing the debt off way down the road to our children and grandchildren. This is not being fiscally responsible."