ON MYSPACE AND REPUTATIONAL MORTALITY (Part II)

NOWHERE TO HIDE

In an update to yesterday's post, I highlighted a comment by Kareem Mayan, where he urges everyone to just get used to a world without privacy, and living as you are in full view of the world.

Well, a few hours later, I received this article from the Guardian in the UK, courtesy of a friend (thanks, Joe).  It's a fascinating anecdote on the MySpace generation clashing with their parents.

"From The Guardian -
Messy daughter fights back by humiliating dad

Sam Jones
Monday March 20, 2006
The Guardian

An exasperated father has discovered to his cost that cyberspace is not the ideal arena for family feuds. Two weeks ago Steve Williams became so fed up with his daughter's messy bedroom that he built a website featuring pictures of his slothful offspring's lair in an attempt to shame her into action.

But the public humiliation proved a short-lived victory. While it did spur his daughter, Claire, into tidying up her room, it also whet her appetite for revenge. With the help of her father's friends, the 20-year-old business student has now set up a rival website that displays photos of him in a variety of compromising situations.

"All my friends feel sorry for Claire so they're ganging up on me," said Mr Williams, of Whitehaven, Cumbria. "They've managed to dig out photos of me drunk and dancing round with a handbag at a party, and also put pictures of my garage on to show it's not just Claire who's untidy.

"The boot's on the other foot now, but I suppose I deserve it."

Despite the embarrassment, Mr Williams said he had no regrets.

"It started off as a flippant remark, with me saying to Claire if you don't sort your room out I am going to put that pic on the internet," he said. "It had the desired effect. Her bedroom is not immaculate, but it's a hundred times better. My son has started keeping his tidy too. He's living in fear of being outed!

"Claire is absolutely mortified. She has only just started speaking to me again."

Mr Williams' site, www.shameit.com, has proved hugely popular with disgruntled families from all over the world. Nearly 40,000 people have visited the site in its first fortnight.

"I can't believe it," said Mr Williams, a computer programmer. "I certainly wasn't expecting this kind of response. We've had people from as far as New Zealand, Japan and South Africa. I had to do an interview with a radio station in Brisbane the other day.

"But it obviously works, because we've had lots of shameful pictures going up one day and taken down the next!"

Although this particular story had a happy ending, at least for now, it'd be interesting to see the long-term implications of these actions, if any, to this family.

In a world of thriving mini-industries for removing tattoos and fixing credit reports, how long will it be before we see yet another commercial industry emerging solely to help us try and erase at least some of the reputational footprints we leave behind on the web at large?

Or alternatively, until a new form of  "Reality Net" entertainment emerges on the web?