While all Internet posts may live forever, a negative post can be a personal disaster. It can ruin one’s reputation, cause the disapproval of leases, bar admission to memberships and prevent gainful employment.
As long as a negative post is true, there generally is no legal recourse in the United States for the posting of details of a criminal arrest, an old bankruptcy, an embarrassing photograph, or a mugshot. In view of the fact that 68 percent of Internet users believe current laws are not good enough to protect people’s privacy online, it is not surprising that the drumbeat for Internet privacy regulation is getting louder. Lee Rainie, “The State of Privacy in Post-Snowden America,” Pew Research Center (Sept. 21, 2016).
