The Smoking Gun posts mug shots, confidential documents, transcripts, legal filings, rock band riders – all kinds of lurid material. One of my favorite mug shots – actually, one of my favorite images ever – is of Patrick Tribett, arrested for huffing paint. The image has such gravity I can only look at it for short periods.

Amazingly, the Smoking Gun recently located another mug shot of a fellow arrested under similar circumstances to our Mr. Tribett. The image is not iconic in the way that Mr. Tribett’s is, but nevertheless captures its subject poignantly.

Some would say that while publishing celebrity mug shots is fair game, posting images of regular people is cruel. Someone makes a dumb mistake (NSFW) and it lives on the Internet forever (well, 17 years and counting). People change, forgive, forget, and move on, but the Internet never forgets.

I do not disagree, but the genie is out of the bottle. The reality is that our actions now have searchable memories, so it’s best on general principles to keep your footprint small, and try not to become a meme.