In 1996, my employer got a contract to work with AT&T to build a website that provided regular event updates from the Atlanta Olympics. In 1996, this was a very big deal, such a newish concept that the project was written up in AdAge or some similar industry magazine.

A few months later a prospective junior engineer came in for an interview. My manager asked him the typical "tell me about an interesting project you've worked on lately." He then proceeded to describe in detail the very project we had just completed, even referencing the magazine article about it (he must have forgotten he was interviewing at the company mentioned in the article). At the end of his presentation, my manager said "That's interesting, because here at X, we just completed that project."

Awkward silence. Then the interviewee got up and said "I guess I should go now." My manager said "Yes, I guess you should."

Impersonation of this sort can be simultaneously disturbing and somehow comical. It isn't a new phenomenon; I'm not decided on whether I believe the information age makes it easier or more difficult.