on the right to be forgotten

published: 2024.12.15
tagged: girlblogging, journaling
by mana

this week I had something interesting happen to me: i was thinking about the old website I used to run when I was a kid, and I found my way to the wayback machine and found an indexed (albeit poorly - none of the graphics survived, nor did most of the pages, just a few index pages and a bio or two) version of my ancient (circa 2001) website…thankfully, I can’t remember any of the other urls I had over the years, or else I might’ve cringed myself to death

but happening upon this got me thinking about the privilege that those of us who grew up on the early web have compared to younger people who have grown up with high-speed, mostly unfettered internet access…the crumbs of my old online presence are still there, but blissfully scant, which is not something I can say for this and coming generations.

imagine if you were applying for a job and forgot you had a fansite for some show where you publicly lusted after a fictional character and all of those cringe 12-year-old musings were available on the internet for all to see, or your old crusty poetry, etc.

I cannot emphasize the terror I feel, imagining if that website had been preserved in its original quality and was available for anyone online to find or read today. Admittedly, I was pretty lax with security back then and probably shared more about my IRL than I should have, being a teenager at that time, and that in and of itself could be a danger, but compared to people who grow up with the ability to document everything very easily, it’s a bit chilling, from my perspective at least.

obviously there are ways to enjoy the internet and what it offers without endangering yourself, but I think too often parents neglect to tell their children about how everything you do can be archived, because maybe they aren’t even aware of it themselves.

on the one hand, it would be interesting to have that site in its entirety to peruse and remember, but honestly, what was there made me so uncomfortable and sad, remembering those days…I’m ultimately glad it’s left in the past and hasn’t stood the test of time.

in that same vein, i think too many people have written fearmongering pieces about the inability to be forgotten online or the “right to be forgotten.” there’s plenty of concerns, from your boss finding your smutty fanfiction profile from when you were 12, to having said problematic things when you were a child and didn’t know any better, etc. and ultimately, I don’t think those things are necessarily something you should have to be responsible for? people have a right to privacy, and I think if the statute of limitation on arson is six years (in the usa anyway, or so I’ve heard), then you shouldn’t be held accountable for anything you have said that was more than six years ago…people change over time (obviously this changes entirely if you’re still saying the same slurs six years later, it proves you’ve learned nothing) and if one cannot be tried in court for a crime of such age, then maybe that should also apply to the court of public opinion.

one thing I wish I did have from that time period are my old journals I kept growing up, even if it would be painful to go over them now. honestly, I think just knowing I have an archive going back that far might feel nice, which has just been manifesting itself as my return to journaling…the desire to archive my life, even if it’s not for anyone else’s consumption, perhaps even my own…it just feels nice knowing that it exists, honestly.