You Are Who Google | Yahoo | MSN | MySpace Say you Are

Gee, what a shocking turn of events. Nobody would have ever guessed that this would be the case:

The Wall Street Journal -- Mr. Pratt Cleaned Up His Act To Impress an Employer; Killing a MySpace Profile -- But inventing a new self was much easier than killing the old one. He says he emailed MySpace, begging the site to take down his old page. Nothing happened. He sent at least eight more urgent messages to the site, including a note to MySpace co-founder Tom Anderson. Finally, he received a cryptic email telling him to write his user name -- "craigisanidiot" -- and password with a marker on a piece of paper, to take a photo of himself holding it up, and to email it to MySpace along with a note saying, "I wish to be removed from MySpace."

People who have spent years leaving behind traces of themselves all over the Web are finding it's hard to erase them.

Susan Amirian, a 54-year-old media professor in East Stroudsburg, Pa., has lost more than 100 pounds in two years and is trying to start dating online. Ms. Amirian, who was recently divorced, thinks that potential mates will find the old photos and avoid her. "They're going to Google me and come up with these monstrous pictures," she says (WSJ).

This is great. When the topic was political or religious ideas, nobody cared; but now that it might be FAT pictures or other F pictures, heaven forbid! LOL!

On the plus side, I'm no longer a voice in the wilderness; but then, anyone who knows me also knows that once an institution like the Wall Street Journal finally acknowledges my long-standing observations, my work is done and it's time to find a new emergent cause. Hmm, how about, "citing the original source for your story ideas, even when that source is just a little nobody that you met at a Stanford conference; or a relatively obscure blog or webpage in the sea of cyberspace."

Nah, nevermind. I mean, it's probably just a coincidence that I've been writing and ranting about this on and off since 2001, only to be met with blank stares; but then, only a month ago or so, I happened to share the growing effects of this idea with a table full of journalists from Slate, the WashingtongPost, etc., at a conference. Six weeks later, bam; it's in the news. I'm sure it's just coincidence.

Actually, I partly don't mind, so long as the issue is finally coming to the public's awareness. On the other hand, this isn't the first time I've seen something like this happen, so I'll have to start collecting better data on the phenomena. The follow on to Who Owns You may just be Who Gave You "Your" Ideas? People hear things all the time, publicly dismiss them if they seem marginal at the time or place, then go away and later think, "gee, what a novel idea I just had." I'm sure there's a whole body of psychology on similar human behaviors, now it's just time to go out and learn more about it, then come up with a way to observe and measure it in real life.

Why bother? Because in a world were ideas and insights are increasingly the stock in trade, it's high time that the originators be better compensated and recognized. What I am talking about now is intellectual property on a whole new level, one that would have been the domain of pure science fiction just a decade ago, but which may not only become feasible in the next couple of decades, but absolutely essential as society decides which minds to upload where, when, and in what order. Do you want the minds that reported the novel and the new, or the minds that repeatedly and consistently understood and anticipated what would not become obvious to others, for years to come. Of course, if you're presently a lead policy or decision maker, a lead patron or promoter, and you run across some nobody whom has consistently understood and anticipated events better than you, is that person suddenly a top candidate, or a threat to your precious "leadership" position? Will pre-post-humans help those who have helped them glimpse the road ahead, or will they marginalize and eliminate them?

Finally, of course, and as usual:

A Google spokeswoman declined to comment on Ms. Amirian's experience.

WSJ.com - Covering Your Tracks In an Online World Takes a Few Tricks