Pirates and Privates…It seems we are hearing more and viagr a pfizer more about these subjects lately. From famous people taking & sending pictures of themselves, to teachers writing about how bad the students and parents are, to bullying campaigns on Facebook, to Wikileaks and actual bandit pirates on the high seas…
Texts are written, pictures are sent, videos go viral…The ability to publish is now firmly in the hands of anyone with a cell phone…
It’s not that it’s new…Even pre-Internet, content and images were being recorded and archived…Recent events reminded me of an incident that happened over 30 years ago…It seems that one employee, a male, had a “crush” on a female employee. He left various anonymous notes in her desk over the course of 3 weeks, and then left a picture of himself, taken with a Xerox machine. As it turns out, she was not so impressed by his picture, and the local sex crimes unit was able to match the handwriting on his job application to the notes.
What’s new is how easy it is. That guy had to go to a lot of trouble to get a good shot of himself on the Xerox machine. Now, one click anywhere. And it’s so easy to send…no making copies or addressing envelopes…just hit send and away it goes…Away it went…Sometimes not enough time spent thinking with the big head before hitting the send button…
So, by now everyone must understand that all of their texts, emails, photos, posts, contacts, google searches, and purchases, are recorded, and archived, forever.
We advise our clients to consider email as public, rather than private, communication. If you wouldn’t want to see it on a billboard, then don’t send it.