Monday, February 20th 2006
You can burn journals, not LiveJournals
As our readers continue their witchhunt for Nazi sympathizers on campus, I’d like to bring up a related point for debate.
This post on eLegal Canton (via TechDirt) reminds us of just how exposed we really are on the Internet. We willingly give up some of our privacy to share bits and bytes about ourselves with the rest of the world:
Social networking sites such as Facebook.com and MySpace.com or one’s own blog or comments left on other blogs leave trails of personal information…
We often forget this information is there for anyone to find at any time. That snarky remark or embarrassing photo that seems amusing at the time may become a real problem when future employers check you out.
And for you readers who plan on making politics a career, consider this:
It will become interesting during the next few years when those who routinely use these kinds of sites start running for public office. All kinds of potentially embarrassing information will be readily available to opponents.
While these various ways to interact with others may seem innocuous at the time, they can come back to haunt later. People often treat these kinds of sites like a personal conversation with a few close friends, but the reality is they are having that conversation with the world and it is preserved forever.
I personally think that people should be held responsible for what they write if they decide to use their real identities (as is policy here on this blog). If, 20 years from now, someone googles your name or finds you through the Wayback Machine, then you should be able to explain yourself if anything controversial comes up. On the other hand, people could stand to be a lot less judgemental about what others do in their youth and free time. If Facebook were around when Clinton and Bush were in school, we’d probably know the answers to the basic questions without even having to ask (boxers or briefs? did you inhale?).
But honestly, we just have to live with it. People are always going to use whatever they can to take you down. You can either stand up for yourself or become a victim of the anally retentive. And, hey, if you do lose out, his entire life is only a MySpace search away… What’s this? A tranny fetish?
So while we’ll never get a chance to read Washington’s blog or check out Lincoln’s Facebook profile, the politicians to come from our generation will probably have them. So to 2036 Presidential Candidate X, I say: add me to your buddy list or you’ll regret life (30 years from now)…
good point.
maybe you guys should blog about the death of calstuff
Comment by HB — 2/20/2006 @ 8:11 pm
Are blogs admissable in a court of law? I dont’ think so, cause it’s so easy to impersonate someone:
http://dieterri.blogspot.com/
unless that really was him. It wouldn’t surprise me
Comment by Fresh Prince — 2/20/2006 @ 10:35 pm
Personal online journals are stupid and I think anyone who gets in trouble for what they have written deserves it.
Comment by Yuriy Pasko — 2/20/2006 @ 10:40 pm
Nah dude, it’s all about free speech
Comment by Fresh Prince — 2/20/2006 @ 10:43 pm
Agreed with this post. People change their opinions and lifestyles all the time, especially at times like college when they are likely to have these LiveJournals and MySpace accounts. It’s a shame that this sort of thing would haunt someone 20 or 30 years down the road when their beliefs/actions might be totally different. Who knows, maybe by that point people will be more sympathetic since there’ll be public dirt on everyone.
Comment by cw — 2/20/2006 @ 11:22 pm
You peeps want to see what cartoons their casting over there in Muhammadland? Don’t mind the Arabic, just describe what you see – to me it looks as it’s a circle being drawn around you know who, and it is getting smaller indicating, alas – checkmate.
http://www.roozonline.com/
Don’t mind that this is the same website on the 16th which broke-news the world that les Mullas had decreed (issued a fatwa) that the sha’riah says it’s A-OK now to use nuclear weapons on Israel and the United States, or whomever. You see they also have a living and breathing document. They like to tinker a tad, I tell. Well this is now official Islamic doctrine, so I guess that 30 years down the road one will not care what was written on livejournal or face-book, because does it really even matter? I see no end to this nuclear weapons buildup in this world. Do you?
I’m sure there is a news article out there somewhere on this? This world better grow up quick!
Meanwhile,
Russia has told us that if we attack Iran then they have a problem with the US. You see they built the underground facility which (will) builds these weapons. I-ran (away) paid huge (a. 2 billion) and is still paying a hefty price. If the US knocks-it-off the map then Russia loses financial futures. Somehow it always boils down to money, how sad. Bush and Blair have some serious thinki’ ta da?
Well just thought to introduce a possible future topic. Swhooo… Who would want to be a president in times like these?
Comment by what — 2/21/2006 @ 1:11 am
30 years ago there was a great deal of fear that many countries would acquire nuclear weapons before the year 2000.
So far it looks like it’s only been India and Pakistan, and maybe North Korea.
Don’t worry about Russia losing money, if the site is destroyed, I’m sure they will still find a way to get paid by the Iranians.
Comment by Michael C. Mikulis — 2/21/2006 @ 11:59 am
This is an interesting post…we are leaving incredible digital trails behind us…especially on blogs and social networking sites. I expect to, in the next ten years, see this stuff appear in electoral politics in the context of smear campaigns.
Fortunatly, I don’t need to worry…when I run for Congress the only thing people will be able to mine from my blog are emo rants about relationships.
Comment by Leverandon — 2/22/2006 @ 2:33 am