Risk is all ours when we choose to expose our foibles online

A friend of mine recently lost her job, thanks to recession-related cuts.

Her worries over finding a new one have nothing to do with the number of opportunities available or her qualifications, but are more centred around the information about her that she knows is floating around, out of her reach, on the internet.

She has committed no crime or done anyone any harm but, over the years, has simply found herself responding honestly to that casual question that's asked of us (either explicitly or otherwise) by an ever-increasing number of websites: "What are you up to?"

The warning from Google chief executive Eric Schmidt about personal information we disclose online seems to indicate the solution to the problem of "over-sharing" is that we should have the right, in the future, to detach ourselves from any highly public, highly erratic online personas we once had.

It appears we have three options. We go down the route Schmidt suggests, live our lives in a public, carefree fashion, then try to clear up the mess afterwards.

Or we could use technology more responsibly - perhaps even cut out social media and accept the severance of all those social connections we've been enjoying for the past few years.

Or we can hope that the sheer quantity of data about ourselves that we sling into cyberspace will become normal; that all our personal foibles, indiscretions and stupidities will be regarded by society as a normal part of being human. Which they are.

But be clear: The onus will always be on us - not on Twitter, Facebook and Google - to worry about our personal information.

- INDEPENDENT