Supplemento al numero odierno de la Repubblica Sped. abb. postale art. 1 legge 46/04 del 27/02/2004 — Roma MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2009 Copyright © 2009 The New York Times Spend They Must You hear about the saving, the hoarding and the cutting back, the people who are eyeing every single cent. But there are those who are eyeing this season’s over-the-knee boot or handbag, because in the midst of it all, some are still shopping. They’re just LENS doing it in a different way: stealthily. “People are saying, ‘It’s that time of year; I want to buy something, but I feel a little weird,’ ” Eve Gold- berg, an owner of a dia- mond dealer in Manhattan, told The Times. “Often they tell me, ‘I don’t want to be out there making an announcement with a big bag that says Harry Winston.’ ” Ms. Goldberg’s company opened a salon that caters to clients who want to shop discreetly, and it is one of many. There are exclusive soi- rees in apartments, invitation-only shopping events in hotel suites and private showrooms. While the very rich may be cutting back on the public display of wealth, they have no prob- lem spending more on their private spaces. Kitchens by the high-end British designer Clive Christian have been popular. Jacqueline Weeman, business manager for the New York Betrayed by the Text showroom that opened over the summer, said it generated $5 million in sales in its first few months, The Times reported. “It’s a much more intimate purchase,” Ms. Weeman told The Times. “You can be as osten- By LAURA M. HOLSON Like others before him, Tiger Woods tatious as you want in the home,” Ms. Weeman HERE IS A question that has has found that the digital trail left by told The Times. text messages can be incriminating. And home is the best place for the stealth crossed the mind recently of any- shopper, because many are turning to the Web. T one who has sent a cellphone text Tatiana Sorokko, who bought a Ralph Rucci message while cheating on a spouse: torneys on how to use electronic evi- ensemble from Ricky’s Exceptional Treasures, a luxury resale store on eBay, told The Times: What was I thinking? dence — text messages, browsing his- “In this economy, the people I know are mak- Text messages are the new lipstick on tory and social networks — in proving ing adjustments. Their transactions tend to be the collar, the mislaid credit card bill. In- a case. And the United States Supreme between themselves and the seller.” Exclusivity combined with secrecy may stantaneous and seemingly casual, they Court agreed on December 15 to decide be the latest retail strategy; it’s a whole other can be confirmation of a clandestine af- whether a police department in Ontario, genre beyond the snobbish salesperson. The fair, a record of the not-so-discreet who California, violated the constitutional German brand VonRosen asks customers to apply for membership by describing why they sometimes forget that everything digital privacy rights of an employee when it would like to shop there. David Von Rosen, leaves a footprint. inspected personal text messages sent founder of the label, told The Times that he and received on a government pager. received 10,000 requests since starting the site This became painfully obvious this a year ago, and has let only 1,500 people have month when a woman who claims to have “How does someone make up an ex- access. had an affair with Tiger Woods told a ce- cuse when what is happening is right Other private-sale sites — many invitation there, written in black and white?’’ only and many only pretending to be — like lebrity publication that he had sent her Gilt, Rue La La and Ideeli are thriving. The flirty text messages, some of which were asked Mitchell Karpf, a Miami divorce sites sell deeply discounted designer clothing published. He follows other politicians HANS DERYK/REUTERS ; TOP, TONY CENICOLA/THE NEW YORK TIMES lawyer who is also chairman of the bar and accessories. Some sites post specific times when sales start and can sell out within hours. who showed a lack of understanding might be suspected but not confirmed, association’s family law section. “By the It’s a rush, online and in the brain, and any about texts, including Kwame Kilpatrick, nowadays text messages provide proof. time someone shows up with a handful of guilt of shopping is eclipsed by having found an a former Detroit mayor who went to pris- Divorce lawyers say they have seen an texts, there is no going back.’’ amazing bargain. And when there’s always a bargain to be found, there’s always some shop- on after his steamy text messages to an increase in cases in the past year where Although most e-mail users have come ping to do. aide were revealed, and Republican Sen- a wronged spouse has offered text to understand that messages remain on “It’s heroin,” Paco Underhill, author of “Why ator John Ensign of Nevada, whose affair their computers even if deleted, text mes- We Buy: The Science of Shopping,” told The messages to show that a partner has Times. “The more you do it and the more ways with a former employee was confirmed strayed. sages are often regarded as more ephem- you do it, the harder it is to stop.” by an incriminating text message. The American Bar Association began ANITA PATIL Unlike earlier eras when a dalliance offering seminars this fall for marital at- Con tin ued on Page IV For comments, write to [email protected]. A PLANET IN FLUX TO OUR READERS As Bolivia’s glaciers melt, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY NEW YORK ARTS This is the last issue of the impoverished city of El Surgeons who cut Abandoned storefronts the International Week- Alto could become the first VII VII ly this year. Publication major urban casualty of out mental issues. transformed by art. climate change. PAGE V will resume January 11. ADVERTISEMENT Repubblica NewYork II MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2009 OPINION & COMMENTARY EDITORIALS OF THE TIMES NATO and Afghanistan Afghanistan is not and should not be pouring of European support for the just the United States’ fight. Al Qaeda United States and offers of assistance has used its sanctuaries in Afghani- in Afghanistan under the common stan and Pakistan to plot and launch defense clause of the NATO treaty. attacks on European cities. We wel- The Bush administration arrogantly come the news that some of America’s spurned that offer, and then proceed- 42 military partners in Afghanistan ed to alienate Europeans with its di- plan to send more troops. sastrous war in Iraq. Trans-Atlantic Still, NATO’s announcement that an cooperation on Afghanistan still has additional 7,000 troops will be going not recovered. falls short of what is needed, and has The challenge for President Obama too many casualty-limiting caveats and European leaders is to overcome attached. that unhappy recent history before it That isn’t good for Afghanistan or does more damage to the war effort NATO, which has never fully taken in Afghanistan and to the NATO alli- responsibility for this mission. And it ance. Germany’s chancellor, Angela is unfair to the American people, who Merkel, and France’s president, Ni- are being asked to make dispropor- colas Sarkozy, have repeatedly stated tionate sacrifices for what is, emphati- that their countries have a stake in the cally, a common fight. future of Afghanistan and the future When more closely parsed, the of NATO. But both are wary of push- NATO numbers look even less im- ing their voters too far, too fast. (Both ADAM FERGUSON FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES pressive. Almost 2,000 will come from have essentially postponed their deci- Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, left, and President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan at a news conference. countries outside the alliance (includ- sions on further troop contributions ing Australia, South Korea, Sweden until late next month.) and aspiring NATO members, Geor- Democratically elected leaders can- MAUREEN DOWD gia, Ukraine, Macedonia and Monte- not ignore public skepticism, but they negro). And more than half of the new should not surrender to it when they NATO troops will come from just three know better. Mrs. Merkel and Mr. member states: Britain, whose force Sarkozy must educate their voters to A Game That’s Not So Great will go up to 10,000; Italy, which will go the harsh reality that Europe will also to roughly 4,000; and Poland, which pay a high price if the Taliban and Al will total 2,800. Qaeda get to retake Afghanistan and KIRKUK, Iraq mber 8 at the presidential palace in official while Maliki was an elected So far, neither France, which has further destabilize Pakistan. Puppets just aren’t what they used Kabul, Hamid Karzai surprised the leader. When the prime minister 3,750 troops there, nor Germany, with There is a lot Europe can do in ad- to be. usually unflappable Gates when he finally agreed to reschedule the roughly 4,300, has agreed to send any dition to sending more troops. Af- Or maybe a trillion dollars doesn’t contradicted President Obama’s meeting for 7:50 a.m. December 11, additional troops. ghanistan also needs more skilled buy the same felicitous level of obse- plans to leave the country. Mocking Gates’s aides gleefully noted that, Meanwhile, the Netherlands, with civilian advisers to work with Presi- quiousness it once did.