The Internet is Forever - Part 2

A couple weeks ago I posted the story about a government agency saying it is illegal to fire someone for something they say on Facebook. I disagreed with that idea then, and still do, but as I reread the post, I'm seeing that I missed the original point I was going for. While I still stand behind the point I made, it is not quite the idea I was trying to communicate.

Half of my readers thought I was an idiot, but I think the problem he had with it was more because I didn't make my original point particularly clear.

It is not really about whether it is fair or right or just that someone is fired for comments they make online. I can have my opinions and I'm sure others have theirs. Opinions are like... Well, I won't get into what opinions are like save to say that everyone has them.

The fact is that people loose their jobs all the time because of things they say. Sometimes they say something at work that is overheard, or at a restaurant where they didn't know their boss was at the table behind them or over the internet.

The question isn't even about whether someone should have a reasonable expectation of privacy for things they say on the internet.

The issue is more about the fact that things you choose to say are have a much more lasting impact on your life than ever before. The girl I wrote about before will see her life effected by the comments she wrote. Future employers can, and will, see these stories about her before they will decide to hire her.

Maybe she is well within her rights to say and write anything she wants. Maybe it would be illegal to fire her for those comments. Maybe there is nothing legally wrong with it. I'll concede every one of those facts, because that isn't the point.

Someone did see it and there were consequences because of what she wrote. One of those consequences was immediate - She was fired. Other consequences may come about later.

And in the end, the person most at fault isn't her boss. It's her. She chose to make the comments. She chose to put them online.

Okay, so where does the internet come in? It is all about the numbers. More people than ever can interact together than ever before. I can talk to people in Europe, Asia or even Antarctica with only a few keystrokes. I can do it from my office, my vehicle or even while on an Airplane. When I post something on my blog, literally millions of people can read it (not that they do - but I do appreciate my readers. You both rock, btw). Never before could we simply get online and tell our favorite actor that we like them. Heck, never before could we tell them anything directly. In the past our letters would have gone to an agent or agency for review before it eventually (maybe) made it to our favorite actor. Now? I simply log into twitter and I get to directly communicate. Heck, I just went and saw a picture of Levar Burton's Thanksgiving Turkey - that's pretty personal access. Imagine that even a couple years ago.

More importantly, nothing on the internet is really private. How many sex tapes have leaked? How many times have comments that were meant to be private ended up on the front page of a newspaper. Even when we think that something we say to a closed group is private, it's not. When I post something on Facebook, not only can all my friends read it, all the friends of my friends who comment get to read it as well.

Okay, so now that I've tried to clarify my earlier point I'm sure you are wondering why I've brought it all back up. My original post was more about the power of the internet and why we have to be more guarded about what we choose to say than ever before.

5 years ago YouTube didn't exist. It's extremely possible that if it was 2005 Dr. Stephen Duckett would still have a job.

Don't know the story? Look it up - let the power of the internet work for you. YouTube would be a great place to start. Not that interested? Fine.

Dr Stephen Duckett, the CEO of Alberta Health Services recently chose to not respond to a couple reporters by saying that he was eating a cookie and couldn't answer them. Due to his flippant attitude toward the media and his unprofessional conduct he was released from his position. Less PC - he was fired. Maybe it's not exactly that simple - there were rumblings that he might have been released anyways- but this was the perfect excuse.

But what if we had no YouTube? No internet? No way to make it possible for hundreds of thousands of people to view the episode. No way for hundreds of thousands of people to comment on the episode. Maybe he would have sneaked past the media with a slap on the wrist. As it stands, anyone can easily find and watch a mashup of Dr Duckett and Cookie Monster happily sing about their love of cookies.

I can't say with 100% certainty that he would have kept his job in a pre-YouTube world, but I can say that the YouTube videos are what hurt him the most. That's the power of nearly unlimited viewers. Who, other than Albertans, really cares about the state of the Albertan Emergency room wait times? But how many non-Albertans have access to those videos?

Would Dr Duckett have said what he did if he had known that the comments would have ended up all over the internet? Of course not, but he should have known better. People have adapted to the ability to post information on the internet instantly. I'm currently typing this while my wife tries on jeans at the mall. My daughter was showing me pictures that a friend posted on the internet. We can share pictures, stories and videos instantly with millions of people, but we, as a society, haven't yet learned that what we say on the internet can have much more lasting and larger impact than what we say because it reaches more people and is more permanent. Google saves websites. Facebook posts stay around for what amounts to forever, you can look up news articles from a decade ago and you can still watch the first YouTube video ever posted, Me At the Zoo, almost six years ago.

I'm going to give you one more example. I have a half dozen web comics I enjoy. The artist and writer of one of them is on Twitter and I follow him. He posts whatever is on his mind and had no problems being insulting or rude to other people on Twitter and chooses to post derogatory comments about religion and other people's beliefs. On a free speech level, I can't say there is anything wrong with what he posts. He's entitled to say pretty much anything he wants, but that doesn't mean I have to like what he says. What he chooses to say is his choice, but he should remember that he is running a business. He sells t-shirts and books and other memorabilia from his comic. He can say whatever he wants, but I get to decide if I want to send him my money for his products. Up until I started following him on Twitter, I had every intention of buying a couple items from him, I've purchased many books from a different webcomic company, so I am certainly in his demographic and a buyer. I'll still enjoy his comic and read daily, but I'll choose not to purchase his items because I don't like what he writes on his Twitter account. I'm not spying on him - his Twitter name is displayed on his webpage. He's purposefully attached his Twitter account to his business, but when he posts he chooses to ignore the fact that potential customers will be reading and making opinions on him and his business. Maybe he makes plenty of money and doesn't need my purchases, and that's fine, but the point I'm trying to make is that he has lost business because of things he chooses to post. There are repercussions to his actions. Maybe not loosing a job or finding himself being made fun of on You Tube, but he will make a little less money.

There is a whole range of effects that come from our choices. The internet can greatly increase the severity of these effects. The effects aren't always directly noticeable and certainly don't have to be negative (Justin Bieber was discovered because of You Tube) and don't always effect just the person who makes the post or is on the video (again - Justin Bieber learned this when posting a fan's phone number on Twitter).

Regardless of anything else, remember that what we choose to do or say, both on and off line, can have lasting effects. Post whatever you want on Facebook, twitter or YouTube, but know that when you hit that publish or share button you are entering that item into a public record of your life. Be aware of the public side of the internet. Know that you aren't always in control of who reads the information you choose to put out there. And most important of all - remember that it's your choice to make the comments.