Eric Schmidt: Teens' Mistakes Will Never Go Away

An anonymous reader writes "Speaking at the Hay Festival in the U.K. this weekend, Google's Eric Schmidt spoke about the permanence of your online presence, and how that will affect kids growing up in an online world. 'We have never had a generation with a full photographic, digital record of what they did. We have a point at which we [Google] forget information we know about you because it is the right thing to do.' He makes the point that a lot of respectable, upstanding adults today had dubious incidents as kids and teenagers. They were able to grow up and move past those events, and society eventually forgot — but today, every notable misdeed is just a Google search away. CNET's coverage points out that 'mistakes' can often be events that put somebody's life on track. 'A word or an act can seem like a mistake when it happens — and even shortly afterward. In years to come, though, you might look back on it and see that, though it created friction and even hurt at the time, it served a higher and more character-forming purpose in the long run.' Of course, it's also true that some mistakes a simply indicators that somebody's a schmuck." Schmidt also made an interesting comment in an interview with The Telegraph while he was in the U.K. He said, "You have to fight for your privacy, or you will lose it." This is quite different from his infamous 2009 remark: "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place."

Comments

Re:What's worse

[ShanghaiBill]

I dont think it will matter. at least not for comon mischief.

When I am hiring someone, I google their name, and check their social media (facebook, linkedin). Pictures of people partying with friends is very common and just means you are normal. If you appear to be gay, than will increase your chances of being hired by me (gays don't have as many family distractions and can work longer hours). I really don't care about indiscretions. I care a lot more about seeing what your interests are. If your facebook page has photos of your latest homebrew FPGA project, you are a shoo-in. It is filled with pictures of you performing with your jazz band, that is a good indication that programming isn't your real passion.