My Public Life
“Is that not what every person longs for—what Odysseus chose over Kalypso’s nameless immorality—to die, but to be known forever? And does not search offer the same immortal imprint: is not existing forever in the indexes of Google and others the modern-day equivalent of carving our stories into stone? For anyone who has ever written his own name into a search box and anxiously awaited the results, I believe the answer is yes.”
—John Battelle, “The Search”
The Internet is not simply a portal for us to communicate with the world, but a device that is constantly recording our lives in many different ways. Some people put themselves—and their most intimate details—on the World Wide Web for anyone to see using sites such as Facebook or by writing personal blogs. Others appear because of their jobs or activism, their criminal acts, or by simply being listed in the phone book.
In “The Search,” John Battelle states that search engines are writing, or at least documenting, our history and personal information. The ability to search for each other on Google, as well as searching for people on social networking sites such as Facebook, My Space or Linked In, has vastly changed our expectations of privacy over the past 10 or so years.
Battelle addresses how some people are incensed that their addresses are available by using an online reverse telephone directory. Access to this information is the least of anyone’s worries. This information has always been public, it has just been difficult to access without a database or a printed reverse directory, which journalists and marketers have paid high prices to access for many years. Now, this information is easily accessible to everyone. If you don’t like it, all you have to do is order an unlisted phone number.
Electronic public access to records is another story. Many legal records are available online these days. In Maryland, for example, the state’s property tax records are all online and easily searchable by address. I can look up how much a neighbor or friend paid for their house, see what their tax bill is, and find out other information about their house and property. Case files for criminal and civil matters, however, are typically not available. My feelings about this are mixed; I wish I had access to all public records at my fingertips at any time, however, if I had a criminal or civil judgment against me, I wouldn’t want that easily accessible. This information is all part of the public record and is available if I were to stop by the courthouse. However, while many of us would probably look up friends, co-workers, or even our boss if court records were available online, most of us will never bother to search for case files at the courthouse.
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