To blog or not to blog?

Remember- the Internet never forgets!

A recent survey by Microsoft finds three-quarters of American recruiters and human resources professionals perform online searches into the activities of potential employees.

Most people have learned - some the hard way - that the lnternet's memory makes elephants look forgetful.

"The Internet makes everyone a public figure," says Michael Fertik, CEO of the online image management firm ReputationDefender, of which an estimated 97% of clients are ordinary citizens.

"Even if you don't put a lot of stuff about yourself online, someone else is doing it for you ... So you either do something about it, or learn to live with it."

Fertik's customers pay his company anywhere from $4 per month to $1,000 per year to help manage persona! Google search results, remove their names from corporate databases, perform online damage-control, and closely monitor their Internet footprints.

Because someone, somewhere, will be following that same electronic trail in deciding whether they want those people as co-workers, students, or even

Saturday-night dates.

A recent survey by Microsoft, for instance, finds three-quarters of American recruiters and human resources professionals perform online searches into the activities of potential employees.

The Internet startup Klout will analyze a person's social influence and authority based on their Twitter account. Pipl scours online photos, public records, court documents, academic journals and forum postings to reveal a person's "deep-web" history.

Even a basic Facebook search can turn up surprisingly intimate results, with many users having inadvertently left parts, or all, of their personal profiles open to the public.

And as more and more of these reputation queries are performed, experts say companies will probably seek a one-stop shopping source for aggregated information - think eBay star ratings, social media activities, old blog entries, comments made in online discussion groups, and cached documents.

This possibility is so likely, in fact, that there's already speculation about how the system could be legally navigated. Harvard cyber law professor Jonathan Zittrain supports the idea of being able to declare "reputation bankruptcy", wiping clean the digital slate to start fresh every 10 years or so.

"We don't trust people who are blank slates these days," says Sidneyeve Matrix, professor of media at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont. "lt's like that saying, 'If you don't show up on Google, you don't exist."'

"The problem with reputation reformatting; or a digital reset, is that information about us exists on privately owned and corporate servers," says Matrix. "So we can never really erase everything."

Misty Harris, Postmedia News (adapted)

August 4, 201 0

PART 1

A) INTRODUCTION:

1. Present the text: type of document, date, source, key-words in the title.
2. What main issue does it deal with?

B) ANALYSIS

1. Focus on the title. Pick out the two conflicting terms. What do they suggest ? Scan the text and pick out passages where this idea is expressed.
2. Read the introduction. Where does it echo in the text ?
3. Where can recruiters find information ?
4. Three companies are mentioned, which ones. Explain their work in a few words .
5. Does privacy exist online ? Justify your answer by quoting the text .
6. Explain the phrase « reputation bankruptcy » line 31.
7. Is it advisable not to exist on the Internet ? Develop your answer.
8. Finally, is it possible not to exist on the Internet ?

     9.Reorder the following sentences

• A great deal of employers search information about their future employees on the web
• Some companies are specialized in analyzing the profiles of web-users
• Web users are not always conscious of the risks and don't check the information they let
• The absence of information on the internet is suspectful
• Anybody can become somebody thanks to the internet
• Companies collecting information to sell them could be created
• Other companies are specialized in the defense and protection of web users
• Even if the net never forgets, it's possible to clean personal data after some time
• People can also look for information about the persons they live or work with

     10. Use the sentences above to write a paragraph using link-words .

     11. Find the translation of the following words and phrases in the text:

un sondage, un employé, directeur, un citoyen, un client, une entreprise, gérer, supprimer, les bases de données d'une entreprise, des dommages , contrôler, collègues, une jeune entreprise, un compte , parcourir, enregistrement, interrogation, collectif, effacer, ardoise digitale, repartir à zéro, faire confiance, vide, réinitialisation, des serveurs privés, effacer

PART 2

1. COMPREHENSION 10 points

A rédiger en FRANÇAIS

Après avoir lu attentivement l'article, vous en dégagerez les idées essentielles en

200 mots (+ ou - 10%).

Vous indiquerez le nombre de mots utilisés.

PART 3

Watch the video "Social Networking Workforce Dangers" and pesent it:

• Introduction (nature, source, topic)
• Report (organized with linkwords)
• Commentary: at least two main parts
• Conclusion and personal opinion

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