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![“In March 2007, Google confirmed that since its inception it had stored every search query every user ever made and every search result she ever clicked on. Google remembers forever.
‘Xранить вечно’ (to be preserved forever) the KGB stamped the dossiers on its political prisoners. The Communist state would never forget the identity, beliefs, actions and words of those that had opposed it.
Like the Soviet state, Google does not forget. But unlike the Soviet Union that ceased to exist fifteen years ago, Google has become an indispensable tool for hundreds of millions of people around the world, who use it every day. We seem to have accepted that our digital society may forgive, but no longer forgets. […]
[U]ntil recently conservation remained expensive, search was difficult and access limited. The costliness of continuous preservation forced us to carefully consider the trade-offs of retention and deletion. Only records viewed as important and valuable were kept. Libraries were expensive undertakings, requiring experts to keep the books in good order. Our grandparents had their photo taken only at special occasions; and our parents would film us with Super 8 for short takes only, due to the cost of film. […]
For millennia, humans have had to deliberately choose what to remember. The default was to forget. In the digital age, this default of forgetting has changed into a default of remembering. As these digital memories make possible a comprehensive reconstruction of our words and deeds even if they are long past, it may constrain our willingness to engage in and further our open society.”
(Viktor Mayer-Schonberger | “The Useful Void”)](http://27.media.tumblr.com/nFdnhWgAHdfwt4haM0lfvLMl_400.jpg)
“In March 2007, Google confirmed that since its inception it had stored every search query every user ever made and every search result she ever clicked on. Google remembers forever.
‘Xранить вечно’ (to be preserved forever) the KGB stamped the dossiers on its political prisoners. The Communist state would never forget the identity, beliefs, actions and words of those that had opposed it.
Like the Soviet state, Google does not forget. But unlike the Soviet Union that ceased to exist fifteen years ago, Google has become an indispensable tool for hundreds of millions of people around the world, who use it every day. We seem to have accepted that our digital society may forgive, but no longer forgets. […]
[U]ntil recently conservation remained expensive, search was difficult and access limited. The costliness of continuous preservation forced us to carefully consider the trade-offs of retention and deletion. Only records viewed as important and valuable were kept. Libraries were expensive undertakings, requiring experts to keep the books in good order. Our grandparents had their photo taken only at special occasions; and our parents would film us with Super 8 for short takes only, due to the cost of film. […]
For millennia, humans have had to deliberately choose what to remember. The default was to forget. In the digital age, this default of forgetting has changed into a default of remembering. As these digital memories make possible a comprehensive reconstruction of our words and deeds even if they are long past, it may constrain our willingness to engage in and further our open society.”
(Viktor Mayer-Schonberger | “The Useful Void”)
