When President Barack Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court, her opponents immediately began scrutinizing her former statements and actions. In particular, they jumped on comments in which Sotomayor speaks candidly about often divisive issues like affirmative action and race.

“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life,” she said at UC Berkeley law conference.

Her opponents read this quote as, “I am better than white males because I am Latina,” which I don't believe is what she meant.

What concerns me isn’t just that her opponents are twisting her words. It’s that what she has said years ago has come back to haunt her

And that’s only from a public appearance. She could have said a lot more "off-the-record" that would have lost her all support completely, if only her opponents could find hard evidence.

Even with privacy barriers, the Web is a public space

What my peers and I say often becomes public on social networking Web sites like Facebook, Myspace and Twitter. I figure that if my teachers or future employers can’t view my profile, then I’m in the clear.

But the Sotomayor issue made me realize that I’m not. Even though the highest privacy settings shield all my online profiles, I still don’t own the rights to them -- sites like Facebook and Myspace do.

Even adults who use the Internet for networking or blogging put their careers at risk if they aren’t careful with the information that they post.

A prison officer in the United Kingdom lost his job after his superiors discovered he was Facebook "friends" with 13 known criminals. Utah Attorney General Mart Shurtleff accidentally announced over Twitter that he was running for Senate before he was supposed to. Even emails aren’t private or else journalists wouldn’t be able to publicize South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford’s compromising email thread with his mistress.

Just as people can search through tapes and documents for information on public figures like Sotomayor, then someone who wants private information about me could probably find a way to break through my online privacy barriers or read my Internet comments.

I’ve said a lot of crude things over the Internet, but I hardly ever mean what I say. I tend to exaggerate and leave improper comments for close friends who know I’m just joking.

The things that we say and do online amongst "friends," however, can be just as condemning as the things we say and do in person.

Sharing with "friends" online

University of Southern California football star Clay Matthews has experience with this issue. He created a Facebook group called “White Nation” that centered around an inside joke within his football team. The group page featured a photo of a black baby in handcuffs with the caption, “arrest black babies before they become criminals.” Matthews claims that he meant no harm and that it was an inside joke amongst friends.

He failed to understand that his private jokes become public as soon as they are posted to the internet.

The kind of privacy issues Matthews faced are unique to our Internet-savvy generation. When members of older age groups were in their teens, they must have engaged in the same kind of crude conversations and quarrels, but those mostly took place over the phone or in person. As these men and women entered professional settings, the comments they made while young were virtually untraceable.

By contrast, the comments we teenagers make today could be traced for years to come on the Internet, often our preferred means of communication.

Implications for our future

Future employers and college admissions officers have begun to do the tracing.

According to a 2006 survey conducted by CareerBuilder.com, 12 percent of employers have access to individual profiles on networking sites and consider their findings when choosing amongst applicants.  

High school students applying for college must also be wary of their Internet profiles. The test-prep company Kaplan Inc. completed a survey in 2008 which revealed that 10 percent of college admissions officers look at applicants’ profiles, and 38 percent of the officers’ findings gave them negative impressions of applicants.

Very soon we teenagers will be applying to colleges and for jobs. When we rise through the ranks and compete for top positions, will what we say now come back to haunt us?

I’m afraid it will, especially if taken out of context. I’m sure we’ve all posted something that would be far more destructive to our future careers than Sotomayor’s purposefully public comments at conferences. 

So now, I’m on a mission to make my Internet persona a little cleaner. In case I become someone big tomorrow, I don’t want to be judged by what I say online today.