I was watching tv the other day. As I do way too often. One of the major phone companies has devised a program on their phones to edit out unsightly people or things from photos you take. Just make them disappear , if you wish.

I have so many feelings about this. Yes, no one wants a dog or a human doing something disgusting behind them in a photo. No one wants a trash truck dumping a dumpster in the back ground. We could go on and on.

My mind tends to go other places with this story line. Family outings and get togethers where after the event, Uncle Max , who disagrees with you about politics, was removed simply because you disagreed. Or a disgruntled ex spouse wiped you clean from photos and family will never know you were there.

I understand the use for this tool. But like so many other tools it could be misused or abused.

What if you had a photo of someone who was trying to be placed at the scene of a crime?

My list goes on and on. I saw an interview with a young man, who had a famous father, the world was told he was born with almost no eyesight. He had ( in his words) been abused by a relative after his fathers death. Beaten, and almost lost his vision.

People with money have the ability and the resources to hire investigators to track down information on the internet about them favorable or unfavorable, and make it disappear.

Erasing and changing his- tory isn’t a good idea. At least not in my mind. We wash over the abuses to Native Americans. Yet they are still happening.

The ability to erase a person or persons from a photo doesn’t make it a good idea. The ability to be more selective in your surroundings and backdrops makes more sense to me.

Possibly I have too much time on my hands to ponder these things. Or maybe I watch too many late night detective shows? Either way it is something to think about.