The Virtue Of Hitting 'Delete,' Permanently

News Type: Opinion — Seeded on Fri Oct 23, 2009 2:49 AM EDT

Article Source: NPR

Stacy Snyder wanted to be a teacher. By spring of 2006, the 25-year-old single mother had completed her coursework and was looking forward to her future career. Then her dream died. Summoned by university officials, she was told she would not be a teacher, although she had earned all the credits, passed all the exams, completed her practical training — many with honors. She was denied her certificate, she was told, because her behavior was unbecoming of a teacher. Her behavior? An online photo showed her in costume wearing a pirate's hat and drinking from a plastic cup. Stacy Snyder had put this photo on her MySpace web page, and captioned it "drunken pirate," for her friends to see and perhaps chuckle over. The university administration, alerted by an overzealous teacher at the school where Stacy was interning, argued that the online photo was unprofessional since it might expose pupils to a photograph of a teacher drinking alcohol. Stacy considered taking the photo offline. But the damage was done. Her page had been catalogued by search engines, and her photo archived by web crawlers. The Internet remembered what Stacy wanted to have forgotten.

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5.1

{"commentId":10241311,"authorDomain":"alkimija"}

alkimija

Evolving digital technology has provided a steady aid for people in their quest to remember virtually everything. Social networking sites remind you of friends' birthdays, digital calendars send you reminders, and photos posted online preserve memories indefinitely.

But Viktor Mayer-Schonberger, author of Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age, argues that now is the time to reintroduce our ability to forget. The indelible digital memory can be as unforgiving as it is helpful. Mayer-Shonberger suggests an expiration date for information.

Mayer-Shonberger talks about his book, Delete, with Neal Conan, and makes his case for why forgetting is essential.

{"commentId":10241311,"threadId":"707833","contentId":"3414787","authorDomain":"alkimija"}

3 votes

#1 - Fri Oct 23, 2009 2:49 AM EDT

{"commentId":10241862,"authorDomain":"acidreflux"}

AdipicAcid

Actually, in this age it is going to be harder and harder to forget, and maybe the solution is to re-learn how to forgive.

{"commentId":10241862,"threadId":"707833","contentId":"3414787","authorDomain":"acidreflux"}

2 votes

#2 - Fri Oct 23, 2009 5:46 AM EDT

{"commentId":10243815,"authorDomain":"Pvt-Public"}

Pvt-Public

Or re-learn common sense as to what you really want the world to see or read of you.

{"commentId":10243815,"threadId":"707833","contentId":"3414787","authorDomain":"Pvt-Public"}

1 vote

#2.1 - Fri Oct 23, 2009 9:31 AM EDT

{"commentId":10244224,"authorDomain":"acidreflux"}

AdipicAcid

When every phone has a camera, you may not be able to exert such control.

{"commentId":10244224,"threadId":"707833","contentId":"3414787","authorDomain":"acidreflux"}

1 vote

#2.2 - Fri Oct 23, 2009 9:53 AM EDT

{"commentId":10244305,"authorDomain":"Pvt-Public"}

Pvt-Public

And who would that leave to blame?

{"commentId":10244305,"threadId":"707833","contentId":"3414787","authorDomain":"Pvt-Public"}

1 vote

#2.3 - Fri Oct 23, 2009 9:58 AM EDT

{"commentId":10244335,"authorDomain":"acidreflux"}

AdipicAcid

Ah, so you have never done anything that you would later regret? Ever?

{"commentId":10244335,"threadId":"707833","contentId":"3414787","authorDomain":"acidreflux"}

3 votes

#2.4 - Fri Oct 23, 2009 9:59 AM EDT

{"commentId":10244551,"authorDomain":"Pvt-Public"}

Pvt-Public

Actually many more things than I care to think about. But I accept the fact that the consequences are all mine and I "earned" them. It's not about getting forgiveness after the fact, I believe it is more taking the time to consider the consequences before the fact. "look before you leap"

{"commentId":10244551,"threadId":"707833","contentId":"3414787","authorDomain":"Pvt-Public"}

1 vote

#2.5 - Fri Oct 23, 2009 10:11 AM EDT

{"commentId":10252906,"authorDomain":"hampton"}

larrrs

But I accept the fact that the consequences are all mine and I "earned" them.

It is even harder for young people who have grown up with this technology; there seems to be a real lack of understanding between actions and consequences. There also seems to be a lack of awareness about the differences of having a face -to-face with someone and "texting" or "e-mailing". I have noticed that many people also feel like they know somebody that they have met on-line and think that those relationships are as secure as real life ones. We have a very long way to go to grasp the social implications of our technology and it seems to be out-pacing our ability to understand our social situations.

{"commentId":10252906,"threadId":"707833","contentId":"3414787","authorDomain":"hampton"}

2 votes

#2.6 - Fri Oct 23, 2009 4:48 PM EDT

{"commentId":10249155,"authorDomain":"h-kuehn"}

Holly-348328

But even if Stacy and Andrew had known, should everyone who self-discloses information lose control over that information forever, and have no say about whether and when the Internet forgets this information? Do we want a future that is forever unforgiving because it is unforgetting?

Legislation needs to be passed on just what precise sources a prospective employer, learning institution or lending institution can access about you. I don't use social networking sites just because of issues like Stacy's, but I don't think an employer, college or bank has any business accessing your information from them either. What do they hope to learn? Instead of proving your qualifications in order to obtain a better life, those who make decisions about you seem to look at the glass as half-empty and want to find reasons not to hire you, give you the degree you earned, or fire you because of something you posted to a friend. And they wonder why unemployment is so bad and employers wonder why they can't find good workers.

Even when you have a criminal record, you can petition the court to have that information sealed provided you have not re-offended. Due to CORI reform, that record can only have a detrimental effect on you for a given period of time. After that, that information cannot legally be used against you. People can and do change.

I have been in the position of hiring people before, and I never would have thought about accessing someone's Facebook or MySpace page when making a hiring decision. To me, that information is irrelevant as you have a work life and a private life. What you do in your private life makes no difference to me as long as it doesn't interfere with your ability to do your job. Dressing up as a drunken pirate for Halloween definitely would not cause me to assume you are one. Making comments that your job is boring would only make me feel like I needed to give you something more stimulating to do.

Something needs to be done quickly before the entire continent of North America is on welfare because no one can get a job due to what they posted on their websites and people making character assumptions based on that information as opposed to what you present to employers in the way of education, experience and work ethic. Also, who knows who's snooping on us all here?

{"commentId":10249155,"threadId":"707833","contentId":"3414787","authorDomain":"h-kuehn"}

2 votes

#3 - Fri Oct 23, 2009 1:53 PM EDT

{"commentId":10253089,"authorDomain":"hampton"}

larrrs

Legislation needs to be passed on just what precise sources a prospective employer, learning institution or lending institution can access about you.

This is only the beginning. What about when we can map basic human genetics in everyday medical situations; or, symbiosis between man and machine becomes almost inseparable. I think ( if we don't blow ourselves up first ) that we are looking at a minimum of about 20-30 years before we will have the very real capability to actually change ourselves as a species. Robots that can take up residence in a blood cell, the ability to directly"hook-up" the human brain to a computer and machine: we may not even recognize ourselves in a few years. I only hope that we are able to keep-up morally with what we can achieve technologically.

{"commentId":10253089,"threadId":"707833","contentId":"3414787","authorDomain":"hampton"}

2 votes

#3.1 - Fri Oct 23, 2009 4:58 PM EDT

{"commentId":10254259,"authorDomain":"h-kuehn"}

Holly-348328

Me too. Ever see the movie "Gattaca" with Jude Law. Scary stuff, and not too far off.

{"commentId":10254259,"threadId":"707833","contentId":"3414787","authorDomain":"h-kuehn"}

2 votes

#3.2 - Fri Oct 23, 2009 6:18 PM EDT

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The Virtue Of Hitting 'Delete,' Permanently

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