User:Vejvančický/Delete

Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age is a book by Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, published in 2009 by the Princeton University Press. The book explores the phenomenon of remembering in the digital age, the role of forgetting and remembering in human history, and the fundamental switch from forgetting to remembering in the society of the 21st century, caused by digital technology and global networks. The author describes the dangers of perfect digital memory and offers solutions leading to elimination or minimisation of the negative impact on humans.

Synopsis
In the first chapter of his book, Mayer-Schönberger points out that around 2001, with the coming of Web 2.0, people became aware that Internet is not only a place to receive information, but also an environment where anyone can produce and share information. While this development offers considerable advantages, it also represents no less important dangers and risks. The author describes the potential risks using the examples of Stacy Snyder, an aspiring US teacher, and Andrew Felmar, a Canadian psychotherapist. Stacy Snyder was denied a teaching certificate and education diploma at the Millersville University of Pennsylvania, as a result of a picture on her MySpace page labeled “drunken pirate” in which she is shown drinking out of a yellow Mr. Goodbar cup while wearing a pirate hat. She later unsuccessfully sued the university. Andrew Felmar was stopped by US border guard when crossing the Canada – United States border. The ordinary control and a query on an Internet search engine revealed that he experimented with the LSD in the 1960s and mentioned this fact in an article for an interdisciplinary journal published in 2001. He was banned from entering the United Stated for an incident that occured almost forty years ago. Mayer-Schönberger notes that self-disclosing of personal information via digital technology and global networks may lead to unexpected consequences, and to an irreversible loss of control over the information. He also points out that the balance between forgetting and remembering shifted fundamentally with the coming of digital technology: "Since the beginning of time, for us humans, forgetting has been the norm and remembering the exception. Because of digital technology and global networks, however, this balance has shifted. Today, with the help of widespread technology, forgetting has become the exception, and remembering the default."