Can you really hide?

Update on the YouTube Lonelygirl15 saga...

Identity found: Lonelygirl15's identity has been found - through some interesting sleuthing by Matt Foremski (owner of the LG15.com site) and posted by his father, Tom Foremski of the Silicon Valley Watcher.

Get the scoop here:
http://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/mt/archives/2006/09/the_identity_of.php
http://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/mt/archives/2006/09/the_hunt_for_lo.php
http://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/mt/archives/2006/09/how_the_secret.php

Another blog post from MediaShift:
http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2006/09/lonelygirl15_outedmatt_foremsk.html

Now that that's over with, I have a bigger question? Can you really hide (on or from the internet)? Matt was diligent in his efforts and probably a lot smarter than most of us when searching the web, but he did it. He found information that was "deleted" from the original sites but not deleted from "cached" content on the web. In other words, if you use the web to post something (text, video, photos, forum comment, blog comment, chat, etc.) you leave a trail - and in many cases, this trail can be followed by someone. You can cover up your tracks, but you may not be able to completely erase them from existence.

It's interesting to think about - many of the techniques used to investigate the Lonelygirl15 story are available to anyone - either through experience or a little technical know-how. This should be a wake-up call for all of us, don't do or say anything you wouldn't want repeated to your mother - because if you use the internet to "sound off" it could stay there a long, long time.