Radiolab tackled the "right to be forgotten," U.S. style, back in August, and I missed it. Hat tip at
On the Media, which just
revived the excellent segment. Here is the summary and audio.
In an online world, that story about you lives forever. The
tipsy photograph of you at the college football game? It’s up there.
That news article about the political rally you were marching at? It’s
up there. A DUI? That’s there, too. But what if ... it wasn’t.
In Cleveland, Ohio, a group of journalists are trying out an
experiment that has the potential to turn things upside down: they are
unpublishing content they’ve already published. Photographs, names,
entire articles. Every month or so, they get together to decide what
content stays, and what content goes. On today’s episode, reporter Molly
Webster goes inside the room where the decisions are being made,
listening case-by-case as editors decide who, or what, gets to be
deleted. It’s a story about time and memory; mistakes and second
chances; and society as we know it.
This episode was reported by Molly Webster, and produced by Molly Webster and Bethel Habte.
