Digital Assets are Extremely Portable

This is a mantra that I continue to chant to our students (please note, that's not student-athletes -- I tell my 16-year old, our student workers, the Lady'Backs). I have been visited with a particularly nasty incarnation of why this is important.

As I have in the past, the origins of the school, the sport and the athlete are anonymous, but one must be very careful of who one parties with and who one allows to take your picture.

No less dramatic than Brittany and Paris' wonderful commando adventures, this athlete allowed herself to be photographed in a less than discrete lack of clothing. It obviously was made with a camera phone, and photoshopped to add a particularly nasty tagline. It is now being shared with other coaches around the U.S.

The photo was located on a U.S.-based photo server, and that has allowed for some access to have it removed by the offended party. However, if it was off-shore, whoever put up the image may have ultimate control.

It is a reminder of how the Northwestern soccer case broke. The photos were on a server that allowed for outsiders to browse, and that's how the privacy was breached.

I'm sure at the time the photo was taken, it seemed a little racy, some harmless soft porn fun. Harmless until it becomes part of your dossier.