When this (un)lecture began with what seemed to be a boring discussion between Adrian and the panel of tutors about copyright law, I have to admit I sighed as I prepared to sit through an hour of playing games on my phone waiting for it to finish.

But ten minutes in I found myself totally immersed in the intellectual conversations, and in particular the examples of well known intellectual property court cases in Australia and the US. I was really fascinated by the strange and at times incomprehensible laws surrounding copyright, patenting and defamation. Similarly I was intrigued by who could be to blame for these sorts of issues, in particular in the case of blogs.

I had a few mini freak outs as I look back on my actions online in the last few years and realised there were a few things I’ve done that have probably broken both copyright and defamation laws. In particular I was concerned about a seasonal radio show I hosted earlier this year in which I said some nasty things about a very prominent Melbourne journalist – which have since been uploaded as podcasts to a website I have no control over. I fear that this may greatly impact my prospective employers in future as there is clear proof of me (potentially) defaming a huge personality within the media industry… the industry that I very much hope to work in…

So am I left wondering if and how I can remove this content from the internet. As Adrian, Betty and so many other people have told me throughout my life, once something is uploaded to the internet it can never be fully erased. Is there much hope of me erasing this content in a manner that protects my dignity to employers who will no doubt research my online activity?! I shall research this over the coming days and hopefully in the near future I can write a positive blog post about having eradicated this concern.