Online is forever, and it’s usually not private
THE NEWS TRIBUNE
A 9th Circuit Court of Appeals judge is the latest to flout the First Law of the Online Age: Never e-mail or post on a Web site anything you’d be embarrassed by if it showed up on the front page or were seen by your mother, your boss or law enforcement.
Alex Kozinski – chief judge of the federal appeals court district, which includes the state of Washington – once had his name bandied about as a U.S. Supreme Court candidate. That’s highly unlikely now. On Friday he declared a mistrial in an obscenity trial he was presiding over after the Los Angeles Times reported that he had posted sexually explicit images to his family’s Web site. He has since blocked access to the site.
Of course, Kozinski is hardly the only one who didn’t get the message that in the age of Google, people should assume that anything posted online could potentially be used against them – if not in a court of law then in the court of public opinion.
That MySpace photo of you flashing a little too much skin and hoisting a bottle of tequila may be funny when you’re 18. But it could come back to haunt you later when you apply for a responsible job, run for public office or are crowned Miss Whatever. Employers, election opponents and thwarted pageant contestants know all about the power of Google, and they’re not afraid to use it.
Compounding the problem is the fact that the Internet is forever, as anyone knows who has Googled his or her own name and been horrified to see what pops up from years past. It’s a big enough problem that an entire niche has developed for businesses that try – not always successfully – to purge embarrassing postings, or at least move them to distant pages on the Internet where they’re less likely to be viewed. That service does not come cheap, either.
Embarrassing postings on such social networking sites as MySpace and Facebook can be likened to that tattoo acquired in the flush of youth. What once seemed like a harmless indulgence can later cause all sorts of unforeseen headaches involving long-sleeve shirts in August, laser treatments and heavy makeup. A prospective employer probably won’t be amused by either the obvious tattoo or by the lewd MySpace photos – no matter how old they are.
But Kozinski doesn’t have the excuse of youthful indiscretion to fall back on. He’s 57 and is said to pride himself on his computer skills.
He might be savvy when it comes to navigating the Internet, but his indiscretion reflects a spectacular lack of common sense and good taste. The judge’s public embarrassment should be a cautionary tale for others.
