When we started a blog a few years ago, we gave up all hope of ever having a real job (teacher, politician, woman of the cloth, anything with benefits, etc). We proudly proclaimed to anyone who asked that we'd just as soon not work for someone who wouldn't want us to work for him because of what he found on the Internets.
That said, we don't post pictures of our tits or write vivid descriptions of our wildest hopes and deepest fears on MySpace, either. That's reserved for 16-year-olds. Rather, it was a few years ago. But yesterday's 16-year-olds are growing up and trying to get into college and/or get real jobs. And their "electronic footprints" could make it a little harder:
"The cost to a person's future can be very high if something undesirable is found by the increasing number of education institutions and employers using the internet as a tool to vet potential students or employees,"[warns David Smith of the UK's Information Commissioner's Office.]
The lesson here, kids? If you don't want to end up like us--uninsured with unfilled cavities and unpaid credit card bills--mop up those electronic footprints, STAT!