Martin King: Beware what you put online - it can come back to bite you

"Help me, please. My name was in your article when I was involved in something I now regret 10 years ago. Now it is top link whenever you Google my name. I'm applying for a new job and worried it could put off a potential employer."

It's a not uncommon type of plea, maybe from someone who just made a particular political statement. And I hear it too often from jobseekers in a weak market worried about what might be seen as the excesses of their student years. It took many deep-thinking reviews, with some cases producing much more sympathy than others, before we developed an unvarying response.

Now our answer, in common with many newspaper-related sites, is: "Sorry, we need to respect our archives and change articles in them only when there is a compelling legal reason."

We are not unsympathetic but we have to acknowledge our "matter-of-record" role.

These dilemmas are only the tip of a problem that will grow as ever-younger web users make ever brasher statements and post ever wilder images and videos on a growing range of social media.

It's a lesson that students would do well to remember. And one maybe even parents and teachers should add to their web cautions to teenagers.

Always think about what you're putting online. One day it could be back to bite you.

Martin King is The Independent's Online Editor