danah boyd ponders the loss of data trapped in closed system such as friendster, and is not overly dismayed:
In the techno-centric world, we relish persistence yet that is so antithetical to the way in which we normally negotiate the social world. Information production and identity performance are not the same thing even if they both boil down to bits. Often, communication, sharing and identity performance are crafted in the moment for the moment, not for all of eternity.
I'm sure danah didn't have this in mind, but her reflection reads against my notion of compartments in personal information.
In the physical world, we may move away from our youthful indiscretions, or drop one social crowd or hobby in favor of another. In doing so, we are creating a compartment in time. Like the other personal compartments I've mentioned, they aren't sharp-edged or necessarily rigorously enforced like the intelligence metaphor I've borrowed. But like other personal compartments, we like to feel in control of those in time - whether we attend the high school reunion, respond to the e-mail from an old friend (or enemy), or answer questions about work we did a decade ago.
Meanwhile, Scott Loftesness picks up on the original post about a 'Hierarchy of Unease', and further elaborates it. He also introduces a phrase I like a lot: "Data Stewardship". It's clear there is going to be further legislation and regulation around responsible control and use of personal data. It's foreshadowed by passage of state level legislation, and warranted by gross failures to apply current best practices in many of the cases of data loss.
But legislation and regulation are blunt instruments when dealing with a medium and marketplace as volatile as the net. One could hope that those wanting to reach customers there have moved past the notion that annoyance sells, and are more interested in meeting consumers on their own terms. In so doing, so thought and public deliberation on the boundaries of Data Stewardship might prevent a lot of pain later.