If forgetting helps us forgive, how will the internet’s relentless memory impact our ability to accept other people’s past crimes and mistakes? In Right to Oblivion: Part 2, Viktor Mayer-Schönberger reveals what’s at stake when we undo forgetting, and Frank Ahearn shows us how the internet can forget our past if we’re willing to use deception.
There is a freedom that comes with faking a death. The idea of shedding one’s skin and starting over is a tempting thought. But is it actually possible in the digital age, where one’s information is out there?
Evan attempts to find the answer to this question by leaving his old life behind and adopting a new identity and presence online for a story with WIRED. Readers were notified of this and were challenged to find him. This experiment, full of suspenseful close calls, paranoia, discomfort makes for a curiously witty tale of discovery.