Googling your demise

Once upon a time, an IU graduate student protested the war in Iraq. He stood with his compatriots, proudly holding his sign displaying his opposition to the conflict that raged a world away.\nSome time later, that student found his picture online, along with the photo caption that appeared next to it in an edition of the Indiana Daily Student. Writing to us about it, he said he was worried that the picture and caption could potentially damage his future; biased employers might look upon him negatively if the image surfaced. Thus, something should be done to prevent that from happening.\nThree things come to mind after considering the above request:\nFirstly, I think one should consider carefully what one will protest and/or participate in before joining up. If you think you'll regret it later, don't do it. I say that because secondly, everything one does in public spaces, and sometimes in private spaces, is fair game to be exposed by someone, somewhere, and there isn't much one can do to stop it.\nLegally, when standing outside on a sidewalk, anyone with a camera can come up and photograph or videotape you. This is why the paparazzi exist -- they can walk up to stars, take their pictures, and it's perfectly legal to do so.\nFor the average citizen there is some recourse, however. Anyone who doesn't have a degree of fame or isn't a public official can sue if the pictures or video are used for profit without permission. Even on the TV show "COPS" the producers have to obtain signatures of release from the criminals featured on the show, because save for their televised arrests, these people would not normally be recognizable to the public. Pictures appearing in newspapers or on television news are not used for direct profit, so they are exempt from that requirement.\nOnce the picture hits the airwaves, it's hard to contain. Anyone with a VCR can record the news and have a copy of whatever was displayed. Anyone with a nickel or dime can go to Kinko's and photocopy a newspaper page. If the picture hits the Internet, then the possibilities are endless. Search engines can find items by keyword, by link prevalence or even by trolling the Internet searching for matching data tags embedded in files.\nIn an attempt to head off privacy concerns, an idea was floated around the newsroom -- that separating the caption from the actual picture by turning the caption itself into an image could potentially keep people from matching the name with the face, and keep embarrassed protesters safe from prying employers.\nIt sounded like a good idea at the time, but after talking Ryan Ridge, one of the Journalism School's technical staff about it, the idea lost a little luster. Even if the caption and picture were separated, they would both still show up in a search. If the filenames of the two pictures have the person's name in them, the pictures will appear. If the data tags match the search term, the pictures will appear. If the person's name is at any point used as a link to the photo or the caption, the photo will appear.\nIn the Internet age, there is nowhere to hide. This brings me to my third point -- because your employers can Google your name, you can Google theirs as well. Anything they can find out about you, you can find out about them, so you can avoid bosses who would disapprove if your college protesting days.\nOr, you could show up to your interview with a few pictures of the boss's drug habit in your briefcase -- but only for leverage, of course.