Re: do we have a right to be forgotten?

On 3/15/11 5:05 AM, Ian Fette (イアンフェッティ) wrote:
> NB: the views expressed are my own and may not represent the views of my
> employer.
>
> I think that many people believe that information is out there for good,
> and that society is adjusting to a new normal -- everyone has done
> things that they may at some point regret, and that we need to adjust as
> a society to the fact that this information is out there. You're not
> going to find an employee/spouse/... who has nothing bad about them on
> the Internet. Certainly I see a number of young people who think nothing
> of posting pictures of their drunken selves (often under 21) on Facebook
> for all to see. I would argue that they do so not because they believe
> they have a right / expectation that such information is recallable at a
> later date, but rather because societal views are slowly shifting to a
> recognition that yes, we all have been in a similar situation at some
> point, and in the grand scheme of things it's not such a big deal. Look
> at Bill Clinton and his famous quote "When I was in England, I
> experimented with marijuana a time or two, and I didn't like it. I
> didn't inhale and never tried it again."
>
> The persistence of information is hardly new. A hundred years ago,
> whatever a newspaper published about someone (accusations from a
> prosecutor or what have you) are probably still accessible on microfiche
> in libraries around the country, regardless of the eventual outcome of
> that trial. The information is simply more readily accessible, but it's
> not like the information wasn't out there previously.

Yes, but it's super hard to actually go and find that stuff (e.g, I live 
in Norway, I would need to fly to the states to go and look up that 
information)... and microfiche and paper decays over time (or the 
machines that make microfiche viewable also break down). With a search 
engine, the information is just a few keystrokes away and potentially 
stored... forever, copied over and over and over in a standardized 
format that does not decay.

Before digital remembering, societies have relied on the slow/limited 
access of information as a natural means of forgetting and moving on 
[1]. As the case above shows, this is now impossible for Tera Myers 
unless she changes her name and appearance (and even then, someone just 
needs to add a new page to the web and just say "Tera Myers' new name is 
and here is what she looks like now..."). As David already stated, she 
did not commit any crime yet society continues to punish her based on 
the norms of the day. Those norms could worsen over time (e.g., being a 
pornstar could become illegal, or punishable by stoning) and she could 
be retrospectively punished for things she did in the past... or worst, 
she is legally punished for "crimes" she committed before those things 
were considered crimes (as happened with totalitarian regimes such as 
the third reich, where people were punished for political or religious 
affiliation).

Another issue is where lies are printed about an individual in order to 
ruin his or her reputation. This happened to a person called Simon 
Edhouse (the above is a complete fabrication, and originally actually 
contained a picture of Simon):

http://www.27bslash6.com/p2p.html
(Monday 16 November 2009 2.19pm)

Searching for his name on Google brings up the page above as the forth 
link. Google refused to remove the page, even though it was clearly 
slanderous and a fabrication from a well know prankster. The page was 
seriously damaging to Simon's professional reputation (and also 
extremely damaging to him emotionally), even though it was a complete 
fabrication and Simon has no legal recourse to have the page pulled down.

> I'm not sure which way you're arguing, but frankly I'm not sure that we
> have ever had the right to recall information, nor frankly the means --
> otherwise, if we do, I want to go back to elementary school and "recall"
> the time another kid called me dorky, or "recall" from people's memory
> the time I let a goal through as keeper and lost the game for my team,
> or heck, why don't I recall everything bad that has ever been noted of
> me until I can pose for a saint? How far do you go?

That's the beauty (and safety) of forgetting.

I strongly encourage you to read:
[1] "Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age"
by Viktor Mayer-Schonberger

Received on Tuesday, 15 March 2011 10:47:27 UTC