A while ago I wrote something online that I came to regret. It was meant as a silly, off the cuff comment…but one I hadn't expected to be seen in certain quarters. It was.
Apologies and deletions later, we have moved on.
And that is probably a typical strategy to a life lived on line - chuck it out there; delete later if necessary.
But is this actually a wise approach? Particularly when you read something that suggests deletion is no defence (probably in multiple senses of the word).
The article in question (in The Independent a few weeks ago) highlights the memory capacity of the net, and it's ability to never forget…despite our best efforts otherwise.
The experience of one person covered in the article dramatises this truth powerfully…
"In 2006, on his way to pick up a friend from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, [Feldmar - a well-respected Canadian psychotherapist] tried to cross the US/Canadian border, as he had done over 100 times before. This time, however, a border guard queried an internet search engine for “Feldmar”. Out popped an article Feldmar had written for an interdisciplinary journal in 2001, in which he mentioned that he had taken LSD in the 1960s. Feldmar was held for four hours, fingerprinted and, after signing a statement that he had taken drugs almost four decades ago, was barred from further entry into the United States."
So maybe it really is a case of publish and be damned, because it seems there is no going back.
Or maybe we simply need to start thinking just that little bit more careful before we hit those publish and upload buttons…even if that does take away some of the fun!
Things you most regret putting online - suggestions anyone?
(Thanks to Kester Brewin for the original link)
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