So, if you wanted to escape...

...from the world wide web by having every thing you put onto it taken off, why can't you? Why can't there be some kind of IP vacuum invention, where the user of an IP, by their IP, can strip the entire world wide web of every single thing they ever put onto it by their IP address?


WITH ALL THIS TECHNOLOGY, YOU WOULD THINK SUCH A THING CAN BE so that everybody is CEO of whatever they put onto the world wide web instead of individual sites which will not delete by request all of a person's posted stuff they want removed. If we have freedom of speech we should be able to retract our speech when we want to from the world wide web even. Yes? No?


What good is an IP address if a user can't use it to remove what ever they may have put onto the web as a way to clean house? You know, I should be able to do spring cleaning even on the web.

I agree.

Actually there should be some delete button to prevent your tracks from being seen.

Unfortunetly the system is built to make sure they CAN track you down and do away with you if they so please.

I'm sure the tech exists, hell a few of my buddies are excellent at making sure they never get caught doing illegal things on the internet.

It's just not easy I guess...

~Keeper

reply to post by Tormentations

Why can't there be some kind of IP vacuum invention, where the user of an IP,
by their IP, can strip the entire world wide web of every single thing they
ever put onto it by their IP address?

Once you give something to someone else, you no longer have control over it. This applies to real life just as much as the internet.

If you run naked through the streets, everyone who sees you will remember it. Everyone who has a cellphone can take pictures. There's no way to wipe their memories or erase their phones. Similarly, if you take naked pictures of yourself and spread them on the internet, anyone who sees it can save it locally, print physical copies, etc.

Just like real life, if you give something to someone, you no longer have control of it.

What good is an IP address if a user can't use it to
remove what ever they may have put onto the web

What good is a personal name if you can't use it to erase the memories that everyone in your life has of interacting with you? It just doesn't work that way. Neither do IP's.

The internet is just like real life.

reply to post by LordBucket


What an interesting and thoughtful post.

My commendation to you, LordBucket, for bringing the truth, but in a compassionate, non-condescending manner.

That is an art that we must preserve here, and you are part of making that happen.

Perhaps our words will remain, and offer this option to someone who someday reads them, and that is the upside of this question.

Possible coping mechanisms for the OP? Make it count, just like you did today, by posting here.

IP does not equal identity. In the last 5 years, as a student and then a young worker, I have used up to 6 different computers on a regular basis (parents' home, my home, college computer, work computer, foster family's pc, dorm computers...) Erasing all the data I've output through those PCs is virtually impossible.
On the other hand, at my parents' place, both me and my dad use the pc. It would be unfair that either of us be able to erase the other's data.
I agree on the idea of an online identity through which we could control what we put on or take off the internet, but the IP can't be it.

Since going online many years ago, I have not only had several PC's and modems/routers, but I have also moved house a lot during those times. To track down and erase everything I have ever done online would require more than one IP address. No doubt, addresses I used some time ago will be used by other people, so in effects I would also be erasing their data alone with mine, and vice versa.

They don't call it connections for any old reason. You are making something similar to a global brain when you contribute information, personal or otherwise, to the world wide web. The only solution would be to destroy every server and anything remotely resembling a computer storage device, and that is not a viable one.