IP: The Net never forgets

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

From: "Austin Hill" <austin () zks net>

Hi Dave,

I thought this article may be of interest to the IP list.    Makes an
interesting case for the need for multiple pseudonyms online :)

-Austin
austin () zks net


http://www.salonmagazine.com/21st/feature/1998/11/25feature.html

T h e__N e t_.never f o r g e t s

EVERYTHING YOU'VE EVER POSTED ONLINE
COULD COME BACK TO HAUNT YOU SOMEDAY.

BY J.D. LASICA | Our past now follows us as never
before. For centuries, refugees sailed the Atlantic
to start new lives; Easterners pulled up stakes and
moved west. Today, reinvention and second
chances come less easily: You may leave town,
but your electronic shadow stays behind.

We often view the Internet as a communications
medium or an information-retrieval tool, but it's
also a powerful archiving technology that takes
snapshots of our digital lives -- and can store those
fleeting images forever.

Not only are official documents and consumer
profiles accumulating, but the very essence of our
daily online existence -- our political opinions,
prejudices, religious beliefs, sexual tastes and
personal quirks -- are all becoming part of an
immense, organic media soup that is congealing
into a permanent public record. What is different
about the digital archiving phenomenon is that our
beliefs, habits and indiscretions are being
preserved for anyone to see -- friends, relatives,
rivals, lovers, neighbors, bosses, landlords, even
obsessed stalkers.

[.......]