You've got something you want taken offline: a drunken Facebook photo, an ill-advised blog post about your flirtation with Satanism, a frustrated tweet you wish you could take back. As Facebook passes its 500 millionth user, we take a look at new proposals to reduce the threat that we users of the internet pose to ourselves.
George Washington University Law Professor Jeff Rosen has chronicled some of the newest proposals for protecting, and erasing, your online reputation. He joins us to talk about his recent piece, "The Web Means the End of Forgetting," in this week's New York Times Magazine.
And Jonathan Zittrain, of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, shares one possible solution to cleaning up the trails we leave behind us online: Reputation Bankruptcy.
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Why We Stay When We Know We Should Leave
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The show is a co-production of WNYC Radio and Public Radio International, in collaboration with New York Times Radio and WGBH Boston.
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Comments [2]
Sharon--quite true. Though I would think anyone who would do so would be a friend, and not someone likely to sell their printout to the prospective employer who's Googling you.
I dunno. I'm not egotistical enough to think that many people think I'm fantastic enough that they want to print, copy, link to, etc. the stuff I post online. Chances are very good that if I post something, then delete it, it's gone for good, and no one else has a copy.
However, I do not publicly post my real name, address, picture, etc. No one who doesn't know me in real life needs that information. That includes on Facebook--anyone I want to find there, I will find. I've Googled myself. All that came up were a few press releases from college--Dean's List, plays, etc. I try to keep it that way and don't post anything--positive or negative--with my real name and personal info. I am amazed by how many people splash their real name, photo, and sometimes location across the 'web...
It's one thing to devise methods that will allow us to retract damaging digital items that we've posted about ourselves - but what can be done about the posts and photos printed by others?
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