Fergie's Tech Blog

Digital Scarlet Letter: Once a Criminal, Always a Criminal

Bob Sullivan writes in The Red Tape Chronicles:

We've become a nation of digital scarlet letters.

Nearly every crime is now entered into massive databases that track transgressions nationwide. Increasingly, these databases are available to almost anyone for the asking -- law enforcement, border agents, foreign governments, future employers, even nosy neighbors.

Because of these perpetually available records, there is sometimes no way to put a crime behind you, even after you've paid your debt to society. A short prison sentence for a felony assault -- or for throwing a cup of soda at a passing car – can become a lifetime criminal record, complete with public disgrace in our era's town square, the Internet.

Computers know no gray areas. In the digital world, bits are either on or off. So it is with digital justice. To a database, if you've ever been a criminal, you are a criminal.

posted by Fergie @ 3/13/2007 07:37:00 PM