Herewith, your warning: The Sunday NYTimes Magazine is cracking off another in its series "This Technology Stuff Might Not be Too Good."
Actually, the article went online around Tuesday of this week, but I've been holding back on mentioning it here because I want to support those of us who read the deadtree edition.
Here are some of the lessons from the article, The Web Means the End of Forgetting:
- People have lost their jobs, and been turned down jobs, due to items they've posted online.
- As the title suggests, the web makes it very difficult for society to forget our mistakes (and some of us of a certain age that dates back to the dark ages can commence snickering now).
- Facebook (surprise?) is strategically involved in this mess.
- Reputation brokers will rise and thrive. (I'm obliged to point out that Ms. Esther Dyson pointed this out more than ten years ago.)
- Jorge Luis Borges foresaw all of this and more.
- Some exclusive clubs in NYC require members to sign oaths to the effect they will not blog, tweet for facebook about what happens in the club. (How very Fight Club of them.)
- Forgiveness and understanding might turn out to be the best way to navigate this social inflection.
This is required reading.
