Truth and consequences

Robert Niles at Online Journalism Review has a good post here. Here's some of what he says:

The Internet has returned us to life in a small frontier town, where everyone knows everyone else's business.

Want to stay out of trouble? Then watch what you say in public. Watch what you say around people you believe to be your friends. Instead of unleashing your id 24/7, communicate with intent instead. [...]

Cut a kid a break for something stupid on Facebook, then teach your own kids, students and young colleagues how better to conduct themselves online.

There is no off or on the record anymore. It's all gonna end up there.

This is something I struggle with. I have accepted that I need to have an online presence professionally (and personally, too -- I have relatives all over who want to know what my little boy is up to, and the only way to do that, really, is online), but it's hard for me to give up the little moat of privacy I have constructed around my life. Information that, as a kid, I was taught never to ask someone (money, politics, religion) is now available online. And it will always be available online.

It will be harder for people who commit crimes or simple mistakes to escape their past. Take those girls who maliciously beat another girl unconscious and put it on You Tube, for instance. They might as well go to prison for a very long time -- who would hire them after that?

How can we convince our kids and students they need to be extra-cautious in the virtual world? The "future consequences" argument is always a hard one to sell to young people. Any ideas?