by Bruce Tyson

Created on: March 20, 2010

Technology is great, isn’t it? Just ask Tiger Woods, the latest high visibility target tangled up in a mess. Cell phones, voice mail, and texting have caught countless numbers of regular citizens as well as celebrities like the mayor of Detroit, Kwame Kilpatrick, Florida congressman Mark Foley, presidential candidate John Edwards, Florida state representative Ray Sansom, texting jurors,  religious “minister” Ted Haggard, basketball superstar Kobe Bryant, soccer legend David Beckahm, Casey Johnson, and more in seriously embarrassing and damaging situations.

This is embarrassing

Set to reemerge into the golf world at this year’s Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Georgia, Tiger Woods has been dealt another reeling blow: one of his many mistresses, Joslyn James, has published personal text messages exchanged between herself and Tiger Woods. Not only do the lurid messages detail the private and explicit communications between consenting adults, they reveal how quickly Tiger Woods turned against his mistress when his secret life began to unravel. At the end, he even blamed her for messing up his life.

One more time… repeat after me…

(1)    “I will not use my cell phone for personal communications that might embarrass me or be used against me if it were posted on the Internet.”

(2)    “I will not use voice mail for personal communications that might embarrass me or be used against me if it were posted on the Internet.”

(3)    “I will not use email for personal communications that might embarrass me or be used against me if it were posted on the Internet.”

Keep repeating this. Keep writing this. Keep studying this until you are repeating it in your sleep.

Privacy

We already know that use of cell phones give a user no expectation of privacy. Recently, the Obama regime announced plans to make it official: everything you say and do with your cell phone is everybody’s business. Period. The same thing goes for voicemail and email.

It’s not just for celebrities either. If you’re having a secret affair that you don’t want your spouse or significant other to find out about, don’t use technology to do it. Sure, it’s a lot easier using modern technology, but it’s a whole lot more difficult for you when things go wrong.

Save yourself some grief

The best way to avoid Tiger-like problems is to conduct yourself in an open and honest manner. That way, no one is surprised and no one gets hurt when your actions are exposed. If you ever find yourself doing otherwise, please take my advice: If you don’t want your voice being played all over TV, divorce court, and/or criminal court, don’t leave incriminating messages on anyone’s voice mail.  Dittos for text messages, instant message, email, and any other form of electronic communication.

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