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19 SMU Sci. & Tech. L. Rev. 151 (2016)
The Internet (Never) Forgets

handle is hein.journals/comlrtj19 and id is 165 raw text is: The Internet (Never) Forgets May Crockett I. INTRODUCTION Our memory is hard to conceptualize. We remember some things, while we forget others. Some memories remain crystal clear, while some slowly fade away into the past. Our memories are like books at the public library; they remain on the shelf, but soon become worn down or simply lost. What causes us to forget is not totally clear, but a recent Stanford study suggests that our brains are meant to forget.' In fact, we would not be able to get through our day if we didn't forget.2 However, the Internet and social media have caused some memories to become harder to forget, which begs the question: shouldn't some of those things be forgotten? Whether we like it or not, we now live in a world where the Internet records everything we do. Facebook alone has nearly 500 million members who spend 500 billion minutes per month on the site.3 The average Facebook user shares 25 billion pieces of content each month and creates 70 pieces of content each month.4 These online records show over a decade's worth of decisions which, unlike those in our brains, cannot be forgotten. Where our memories fade, the Internet never forgets. At the drop of a hat, friends, fam- ily members, acquaintances, and even strangers can call up these records, and worse, they can use them against us. There are countless examples where the Internet can get you fired, ruin your career, or even cause employers to snub you before the job interview. A recent survey outsourced by Microsoft shows that seventy-five percent of U.S. recruiters and human resource professionals perform online searches of possible candidates.5 One victim of this phenomenon is Stacy Snyder.6 When Snyder was twenty-five years old and training to be a teacher, she posted a * May Crockett is a 2017 candidate for a Juris Doctor at SMU Dedman School of Law. 1. Keay Davidson, Brain is built to forget, research says MRIs in Stanford study show active suppression of memories, SFGATE (Jan. 9, 2004), http://www.sf gate.com/news/article/Brain-is-built-to-forget-research-says-MRIs-in-283 1647. php; see Lisa Trei, Psychologists offer proof of brain's ability to suppress memories, STANFORD REPORT (Jan. 8, 2004), http://news.stanford.edu/news/ 2004/january 14/memory-i 14.html. 2. Id. 3. Jeffrey Rosen, The Web Means the End of Forgetting, N.Y. TIMES (July 21, 2010), http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/magazine/25privacy-t2.html?page wanted=all. 4. Id. 5. Online Reputation in a Connected World, CRoss-TAB MARKETING RESOURCFs (Jan. 2010), http://www.job-hunt.org/guides/DPDOnline-Reputation-Research overview.pdf. 6. Rosen, supra note 3.

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