Daniel Solove
Annika Mengisen, editor the New York Times "Freakonomics" blog, interviewed George Washington University law professor Daniel Solove about his recent book, The Future of Reputation.
Their opening exchange:
Q: In your book you point out that technologies change but human nature stays the same. What does this mean for our online reputations?Read the full Q & A.A: For the first time in history, anybody can publish information to a worldwide audience; in the past, only those with access to mainstream media could do so.
The students currently in high school and college — what I call Generation Google — will have to live with a series of information fragments about their personal lives.
In college, students often experiment as they strive to develop their own identities; they often do silly things.
One example is streaking — many college students do it, and it’s almost a rite of passage at some college campuses. In the past, such things were forgotten. But now, it’s so easy to capture everything in a photo or on video.
The gossip that pervades college campuses, high schools, and many other settings doesn’t fade into obscurity — it lives on. Gone are the days of innocent experimentation, of being foolhardy without having to suffer permanent regret.
Read an excerpt from The Future of Reputation and learn more about the book and author at Daniel Solove's website, the Concurring Opinions blog, and the Yale University Press website.
Solove is an Associate Professor of Law at the George Washington University Law School. His other publications include The Digital Person: Technology and Privacy in the Information Age (2004) and Information Privacy Law (2006).
The Page 99 Test: The Future of Reputation.
--Marshal Zeringue
