BBC NEWS | Technology | Web creator rejects net tracking

[Roland Perry]

In article <B06A2A4F-0FF1-40C0-9568-ACECC86B267A@batten.eu.org>, Ian
Batten <igb@batten.eu.org> writes
>  Tim Berners-Lee says that he'd change ISP to avoid Phorm:
>
>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7299875.stm

        "... he had a warning for young people about putting personal
        data on these sites.

        "Imagine that everything you are typing is being read by the
        person you are applying to for your first job. Imagine that it's
        all going to be seen by your parents and your grandparents and
        your grandchildren as well."

The latest privacy idea (which I heard floated in Brussels recently) is
to make it compulsory for the "footprints" of youngsters to be
periodically and compulsorily 'erased', so that past indiscretions don't
haunt them when they are old enough to realise they were indeed a bit
too indiscreet.

I have no idea how you would ever enforce such a thing - but you read it
here first!

Of course, the other possibility is that 'eventually' people will tune
out such indiscretions as no more indicative of their future employee's
worth than a few photos taken at the Rugby Club dinner. Although the
"magnifying" effect that the Internet has upon such things is a worry.
-- 
Roland Perry