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Best Way To Clear Your Name Online?

Posted by timothy on from the name-on-the-watchlist dept.

An anonymous reader writes "About fifteen years ago, I did something that I've come to regret on a university computer system. I was subsequently interviewed by a Federal law enforcement agency, although no charges were pressed and I have no criminal record as a result of my actions. At the time, I discussed the matter with a friend of mine who went on to mention it briefly in a text file zine with a small distribution list. I've generally tried to keep a low profile online and until recently there's been very little information about me available from the major search engines. Unfortunately, that zine mention was picked up by textfiles.com at some point and mirrored across the world. I've tried to address this with the owner of the site, but couldn't get anywhere. Even if my name in the source file is altered, cached copies will continue to link me with my youthful mistake. Have any other Slashdot readers had a similar experience? What practical steps would your readers recommend to prevent this information from hurting me? I am concerned that future employers may hold my past actions against me should they look for me online as part of their screening process."

4 of 888 comments (clear)

  1. I see the other end of this problem rather often by shawnmchorse · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm a long-term Rocky Horror Picture Show cast member, and I run a web site for our local cast in Austin. I've been running this web site for over a decade now.

    Cast members are frequently very interested to see photographs of themselves performing in the show. And since it's Rocky Horror, they're usually wearing lingerie of some sort. At the time the photos are posted, they're invariably very excited about this. Especially because I take pride in my photography, and most people haven't seen photos of themselves prior to this that someone had actually put significant work into.

    A few years later though, these same people have frequently quit the cast, possibly graduated from college, and moved on to other activities. They may decide they want to apply for jobs in education, as music minister of a church, etc. They do some vanity searching on Google and are shocked... shocked I tell you!... that the Rocky Horror cast web site is still online and kicking with what had been posted some years previously.

    Now keep in mind this is a hobby web site that I do purely for the enjoyment of myself and other cast members. It's done in my spare time, and I've always paid for it out of pocket.

    I'm sure I could honor requests to remove all of these photos, but I simply don't want to. It involves a lot of time and effort on my end, to accomplish something that's actively taking away from things I take pride in myself. I get probably a half dozen requests per year on average at this point all basically saying the same thing: "Take down my photos now! You're causing damage to my reputation!". At some point I just had to say to hell with them all and whip up a form letter response saying "Sorry, but I'm just not going to do anything about it".

  2. Re:Nothing you can do... by commodore64_love · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Society needs to wake-up and realize punishing someone for what they did 20 years ago is ridiculous. Nobody is perfect. It's like what Harlan Ellison said on Sci-Fi Channel: "People accuse me of contradicting myself because 30 years ago I said this or that. And they're right. That's because 30 years ago I was young and stupid, and now I'm older and wiser and changed my mind. judge me on who I am today, now when I was some young brat."

    IMHO just as thre's a 7-year stature of limitations on law, so too should employers have a limitation on how far back they can dig. Anything that predates this decade should be irrelevant.

    Sorry for the typos - I'm typing on a mac.
    I'm not usd to this keyboard'

    --
    "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
  3. Is the Submitter Jesse Hirsh? by mr_eigenvector · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Here is the offending file on textfiles.com:

    I found it by doing a search on google for "site:textfiles.com university computer system" and it came up as the first match

    The Anarchives

    In early march of 1995 I was arrested for "Unauthorized Use Of A Computer". (About 15 years ago)

    I was being accused of breaking into the computer systems at the University Of Toronto for the purpose of publishing "Anarchist newsletters".

    ---------------

    Doing a little bit more research shows that Jesse Hirsh is also a contributor to Slash Code:

    http://www.slashcode.com/docs/AUTHORS

    1. Re:Is the Submitter Jesse Hirsh? by mr_eigenvector · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I think Jesse is trying do a similar experiment to what Evan Ratliff did for Wired Magazine. He's probably doing research for a book or a presentation based on personal identities on the internet.

      Just look at all the talks he gives about the internet on this youtube channel:
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7taUhf_ROU

      He also has a very large web presence and searches on Google for him never yielded anything about him breaking into the computer system.

      It was only with the critical piece of information about "textfiles.com" was I able to find anything on Google about his past.

      For me, this is a little bit too convenient and highly suspicious based on the type of work he is involved with, especially as a tech commentator on the radio in Canada.