Response to "The Web Means the End of Forgetting"

            The author, Jeffery Rosen, presented a great argument.  Privacy on the Internet has been a significant problem since the start of social networking.  He gave great examples and evidence to support his statements.  He stated that the Internet remembers every post and picture without deleting it; the Internet never seems to forget.  This has created problems in individual’s lives by hindering their opportunity for a job or their personal reputation.  Many jobs hire certain people to research the background of an employee.  According to Microsoft’s survey, 75% of US Recruiters and Human Resource professionals report their companies required them to do online research about potential candidates.  If they find anything suspicious, they either fire or not hire the person because of their drunken pictures or slanderous comments or posts.  70% of US Recruiters report to have rejected candidates because of their unprofessional background.  A 16-year-old girl British girl was fired for posting on Facebook, “ I’m so totally bored.”  Paul Ohmn, from University of Colorado, believes that it should be illegal to fire or to refuse to hire based off off-duty Facebook.  He feels that it is discrimination and the person’s Facebook is private and off- duty.  Another claim the author made was forgiveness.  The modern world needs to have empathy and forgive the online past.  He says that human memory ensures that people’s sins are eventually forgotten, but in the online world no one can escape from their past.  Many people have complained and wanted higher privacy settings.  The author claims that people only want control over their online reputation versus privacy setting. Although a person cannot control other people’s actions and thoughts, the person can control their own reactions.  I agree with all the author’s statements.  Privacy is personal and essential to everyone.  I believe that if the person posts pictures or comments that are slanderous to him or others, then that reputation is deserved upon him.  Even though the author provided organized logic and factual information, I could not believe all of the information until the end of the article.  I would suggest that the author states his credibility at eh beginning of his article.