I was participating in a discussion today on Brazen Careerist about privacy concerns with regard to resumes posted online with or without proper email address or phone numbers. In this debate I quoted a related post by Dan Schawbel on his Personal Branding Blog that discusses among other things the lack of privacy over personal data on Facebook.
This discussion was very interesting on many fronts. It highlighted many different places people could be on the spectrum of the amount of personal information people are willing to share online. I look at myself on the far side of the spectrum of information sharing. I like to think of myself, as what is termed by Chris Brogan in his book Trust Agents (co-written with Julien Smith) a Digital Native.
Digital Natives, are people like myself that have become accustomed to a new level of personal transparency. I operate online and off with the assumption that everything I do, say or write will eventually be known online and tied to me through Google. I realize that I can hide anything, and this choose not to try. Instead I leverage the way the Web connects me to everyone and all of our information is intertwined and linked. I look at my comfort with personal transparency as an asset for myself and the personal and professional relationships I have. I believe transparency leads to trust and consistency in all my relationships.
As a result of this debate I conducted a little experiment to prove my point that we are all out there (on the Web), if we like it, or not.
(a portion of a comment I made on Brazen )
I just did an interesting experiment, I just Goggled my various email addresses over the years, then my current phone number. They were all linked to my name, and then I Goggled my current address to see if it was linked also. It was. Then I tried my 74 year old father’s phone number and address who has never had a web page or a social-media account of any kind, ever… bingo. In my vanity search of my father, I also discovered a link to a debate in the Saskatchewan legislature over my Father’s salary from June, 1988, and a few press releases about him from the 80tys and 90tys… I found that cool, I don’t think he would, he thinks this sort of stuff is big brother. It is now, just the way it is… Google is “Big Brother”.
Just look up Richard within the PDF:
Can the minister responsible confirm that the new president and chief executive officer of Develcon, whose name is Richard MacPherson, has been given an employment contract which sees him collect the following: a base salary of $150,000 a year; a minimum $75,000 a year bonus; a minimum salary of $225,000 a year; plus $50,000 in relocation costs and a Cadillac with all expenses paid and up to $50,000 for leaving his former employment early, and a $225,000 severance package — all this to head a company which receives $7 million in taxpayers’ money from SEDCO (Saskatchewan Economic Development Corporation) and then turned around and laid off 32 employees. Is this in fact, Mr. Minister, the compensation package signed between Develcon and Mr. MacPherson, and how in the world can that be justified.
( a portion of another comment I made on Brazen)
I was really surprised on how much information I could find about my Dad. I have searched myself often, but never thought to search my Dad, because I thought I would not find anything. He has been retired for over a decade and is so so paranoid about being “out there”. He is not out there deliberately, but he is out there.
photo credit: bennylin0724
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