The NetFamilyNews.org post "Protect kids from themselves?!" http://netfamilynews.blogspot.com/2006/06/protect-kids-from-themselves.html discusses a topic that hasn't gotten much attention yet, but which to me seems critically important: namely, the fact that what is posted in a blog or a public MySpace profile immediately ceases to be under the control of the person who wrote the post.

It may sound scary, but I think a future where everything a person ever entered into a social networking or blog site is readily available to educators, potential employers, business associates, potential boyfriends and girlfriends, isn't that far away. Even today, if you type an exact phrase from one of your own blog posts into a Google search, there's a good chance your post will be found.

A quote from a section of our "MySpace Safety" book:

Blog Entries and the Public Record

Everything you put into a blog post should be considered "evidence" that could someday be used against you. You're not writing in a diary or speaking hushed words to a few friends behind the bleachers. You are creating a public record, you are publishing, and the words you publish do not remain under your control on the Internet today. We urge you: publish with care!

Of course, it's easy enough for adults to say this. But how do we get teens to understand the potential long-term implications of what they post on MySpace and similar sites?