Will Kids Change Their Names As They Become Adults To Hide From Their Google Permanent Record?
from the modern-problems dept
Nearly five years ago, we wondered what would happen when the generation that grew up with the internet and social media started running for office. The idea was that when you're kids, you often do silly things that you regret later in life. In the past, those things fade away as memories. However, these days, many of them are now recorded for posterity and easily findable on a search engine. We've wondered if this will lead more people to brush off youthful indiscretions, but there's another possibility as well. Perhaps it will become more standard for kids to change their names as they reach adulthood. That, at least, is the suggestion made by Eric Schmidt in discussing how society hasn't yet come to grips with a world in which so much data is recorded and available. Of course, it's a pretty simple database mapping to link one to the other, so I do wonder whether or not that really makes a difference for other than the most basic of searches.Still, I often find these discussions by adults to be a bit condescending towards kids. Yes, kids do all sorts of silly things, some of which they may regret later, it's not as if everything they do is regrettable. On top of that, I tend to believe kids are a lot smarter than many adults make them out to be. While there may be many things that make adults cringe, I would bet a lot more kids understand what they should avoid doing online than adults give them credit for.
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Filed Under: children, eric schmidt, names, privacy
Companies: google
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Meaningless....
It doesn't and it won't. If there is one thing the common everyday person can and should learn about the cumulative effect of the internet nuclear bomb pirate raporist ninja, it's that you cannot hide any longer. Hypocrisy has never been laid bare before its perpetrators as it is commonly done today.
I, for one, welcome this. We've all done stupid things when we were younger, and even sometimes as adults. The key differentiator of the future won't be our past actions, but our humble ability to both own up to them and demonstratively learn from them....
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Re: Meaningless....
i think this is already in play. when the military did my background check for my security clearance, they wanted me to list past indiscretions. the goal wasn't to find a person with no past indiscretions, but to find a person who doesn't lie about having past indiscretions.
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The Internet is like magic
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Although this idea doesn't seem mature, this sort of thinking will become more relevant.
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Flip side
The people making a big deal about this now are people who come from a different culture with different expectations. Time will take care of their concerns.
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the brilliance of sexting
My gut reaction was to think of 'sexting' and how embarrassing that could be in time, but then it occurred to me -- perhaps kids already have it figured out: the child porn boogie man makes these images virtually untouchable.
Now that I think about it, perhaps the best way to avoid a permanent google record is for all of your youthful indiscretions to involve nudity.
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Re: the brilliance of sexting
Perhaps, but it definitely only works if you're a kid. As an adult, it's nothing but trouble.
Brett Favre and his cocks 'n Crocs pics are a prime example....
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Re: Average Names
Maybe a celebrity name would be better. All of your result would be subsumed by the person who is actually of note.
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Re: Re: Average Names
or a combination of both, which is my case. i am fortunate enough to have a really common name which is identical to people who are somewhat famous, like an athlete or writer. i think that's the best way to stay under the radar.
i combine this with the personal equivalent of a shell corporation: a dedicated email alias and telephone number for the purposes of job seeking, that when combined with a boring criminal record have gotten me through every back ground check thus far.
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I pretty sure this is just Eric Schmidt pushing his agenda
Im main concern is if this is a bellweather that something is being planned for a push through congress. Otherwise tech will allow people to remain anon.
I think his point is that society will let anything people do as youths slide. his comment is that upon reaching adulthood people will be able to change their name in order to virtually expunge their records.
I highly doubt this will become a real practice however, because people will want to carry over positive aspects of their childhood and not carry negatives.
I also was just reading http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/magazine/22Adulthood-t.html and am interested what age would make the most sense for this option. as the article goes on a rant about adulthood and what that means, 16 to drive, 18 to vote/drafted, 21 to drink, 25 to rent a car... where does your record no longer have the right to be cleared to save you from yourself, how old is old enough to know better.
And, I completely agree that people growing up with the tech will know better than the older generations how to handle this. And I personally believe that acceptance of minor transgressions and honest approaches will be the methodology.
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I wouldn't take back any of the foolish things I've done, for it's made me who I am today.
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I don't get it
For me it would make more sense not to work for an employer that is so uptight and ignorant that he takes my youthful indiscretions seriously, instead of just seeing what a wonderful, talented human being he has right before his eyes.
This is a litmus test for employers, not for employees.
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Re: I don't get it
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Re: Re: I don't get it
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Re: Re: I don't get it
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Re: Re: I don't get it
I'm way over 25, however I am a freelancer so perhaps that makes a difference - I don't have to take no BS from anybody. But that is a choice everybody has, isn't it?
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I guess the bigger question is rather than trying to shut down his mistress's blog why didn't Eric change his own name to get away from what he didn't want people to know about him? (not that it would have worked anyway)
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Re:
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Re: Re:
As for the government workers, it doesn't surprise me they didn't show any interest in fixing it as it means job security. Even further off topic why does the government need to be involved in marriage at all?
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I like the idea of this being the first generation that won't have that as an option. I'm all for moral decrepitude when the morals are stupid.
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Trend is that bad reputations are valued.
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Re: Trend is that bad reputations are valued.
Sweet! Bust out a beer and a couple of lines on some hot hookers funbags, i'mma get this party started!
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Crazy Usenet Stuff
Doesn't anybody remember Usenet? Lots of people used to post all kinds of crazy confessional stuff to Usenet. And rumor had it that the NSA and at least one private company archived it all.
And the heyday of usenet was about 1985 - 1995. We should have heard about someone, some politician either getting in trouble because of Usenet activity, or voting a particular way for fear of having his/her past as a "furry" on usenet revealed,
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My take
So let's look in detail at his suggestion. First off, a concern is a person running for office, but this isn't the only application. Employers are increasingly using Google to search for applicant's information. So let's look at this from a Newspaper researcher's point of view.
Problem #1: Credit reports list your NAME as it appears on the accounts and I imagine this also includes account name changes. A quick glance on a credit report would show previous names for any account you've had.
Problem #2: Name Changes are a matter of Public Record. It's a court document. If you've had a name change, I believe you would have a court document associated to your name.
Problem #3: Lacks context. Just because someone was at the comedy club and you heard a week's worth of jokes about furries and posted it online doesn't mean that they really like furries.
Problem #4: A company's HR department exists to be a nazi and protect the interest of the company. So if you're on a social media site and you continually solicit Mike about pizza places, or what type of draino "will cure the problem" you may cost more to have health insurance which could ultimately be an HR problem.
Problem #5: If Dr. Schmidt's engineers were smart, he'd have a solution which may include an opt-in for finding people's names in search results. The Census bureau has a table of names that could be used to key off of. But if Google implemented such a thing, what's to say other search engine companies would be required to follow suit? Classifying people's names as PII would have to have a legal requirement behind it.
Problem #6: Those damned Anonymous Commenters. Anonymous commenters keep clogging the tubes and make people like Mike have to use http://www.gravatar.com to place "unique" hash codes. Gravatar is scary because of it's ability to make a unique identifier across many platforms.
Problem #7: Is he he's saying that it's okay to lie to your employer by falsely answering "What other names have you gone by"? Isn't that inherently deceitful and evil?
So what's going on at Google to walk Dr. Schmidt out on a stage and talk about identity? Well, perhaps Google is working on some sort of federated identity project for the Government to keep us safe from the internet's boogie men.
Free (as in beer) speech on the internet is not a good determinant of anything other than what held the attention of the author at that given point of time.
Remember, Google is a company whose goal is to learn everything it can about you for "relevancy of advertising". They watch what sites you go to, what articles you read and reply to, what videos and movies you watch, they even drive cars by your home and take pictures. Each may be okay in it's own rite, but collectively, it can be pretty scary and massive data-set. Google may not be evil, but it sure seems to tip-toe the line.
To offer a suggestion such as "Hey, Give Up and Change Your Name" seems to me more like a cop-out answer to solving technology's problems. If Google can't plan for these types of issues, I also have a cop-out answer for them- Google should fire everyone and start over too.
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So let's look in detail at his suggestion. First off, a concern is a person running for office, but this isn't the only application. Employers are increasingly using Google to search for applicant's information. So let's look at this from a Newspaper researcher's point of view.
Problem #1: Credit reports list your NAME as it appears on the accounts and I imagine this also includes account name changes. A quick glance on a credit report would show previous names for any account you've had.
Problem #2: Name Changes are a matter of Public Record. It's a court document. If you've had a name change, I believe you would have a court document associated to your name.
Problem #3: Lacks context. Just because someone was at the comedy club and you heard a week's worth of jokes about furries and posted it online doesn't mean that they really like furries.
Problem #4: A company's HR department exists to be a nazi and protect the interest of the company. So if you're on a social media site and you continually solicit Mike about pizza places, or what type of draino "will cure the problem" you may cost more to have health insurance which could ultimately be an HR problem.
Problem #5: If Dr. Schmidt's engineers were smart, he'd have a solution which may include an opt-in for finding people's names in search results. The Census bureau has a table of names that could be used to key off of. But if Google implemented such a thing, what's to say other search engine companies would be required to follow suit? Classifying people's names as PII would have to have a legal requirement behind it.
Problem #6: Those damned Anonymous Commenters. Anonymous commenters keep clogging the tubes and make people like Mike have to use http://www.gravatar.com to place "unique" hash codes. Gravatar is scary because of it's ability to make a unique identifier across many platforms.
Problem #7: Is he he's saying that it's okay to lie to your employer by falsely answering "What other names have you gone by"? Isn't that inherently deceitful and evil?
So what's going on at Google to walk Dr. Schmidt out on a stage and talk about identity? Well, perhaps Google is working on some sort of federated identity project for the Government to keep us safe from the internet's boogie men.
Free (as in beer) speech on the internet is not a good determinant of anything other than what held the attention of the author at that given point of time.
Remember, Google is a company whose goal is to learn everything it can about you for "relevancy of advertising". They watch what sites you go to, what articles you read and reply to, what videos and movies you watch, they even drive cars by your home and take pictures. Each may be okay in it's own rite, but collectively, it can be pretty scary and massive data-set. Google may not be evil, but it sure seems to tip-toe the line.
To offer a suggestion such as "Hey, Give Up and Change Your Name" seems to me more like a cop-out answer to solving technology's problems. If Google can't plan for these types of issues, I also have a cop-out answer for them- Google should fire everyone and start over too.
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Re:
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Granted these were only a few years old, and this article is about distant future adults regretting young internet actions - but I think the internet will always provide headlines for the media on politicians. Plenty of things to hound them for, regardless if they have learned and changed.
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Teens
We seem to expect their maturity: giving them rights in divorce cases, trying them as adults in some cases, yet their rights are eroded daily by overzealous officials trying to "protect" them.
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