writes Jordan Hayes:

Takes me no more than 10 minutes to set up the criteria, and an hour or so on an airplane to browse the output. Granted, I don't search a year (hey, if a candidate is a jerk on the net, they'll show up more than a few times in just a month's worth ...), but your "it's in the noise" statement is naive.

/jordan

I agree. The signal to noise is high, but grep is fast and, if you were determined many layers of filtering could be added to inhance the "resolution" of the search. My concern is that it is becoming more and more common for people to "grow up" on the net, many people I know of started quite young, and a determined opponent (as I'll call the snooper) could, concieveably search your entire posting history. Lets say that the (kind, benevolant, of course) Government is considering indicting you on charges of conspiracy to do something illegal, but are unsure if there is enough evidence to connect you to the crime. Or, let's say that they believe you have had a long-involved role in inciting the breaking of a law. They (the government, remember -- big computers, nearly unlimited people and time) could look for anything relating you to inciting or bacoming involved in things that could even be construde as close to illegal. Bottom line is that we need to watch our backs, but I don't want to lapse into a fit of Detweilerian paranoia (sorry, just had to take that jab ;-) -nate -- +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Nate Sammons nate@VIS.ColoState.Edu (303) 491-1578 | | Colorado State University -- Computer Visualization Laboratory | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+