Technology vs. Privacy in the Job Search

Here's something I've been pondering this morning: when does the line between public and private information become crossed where online information is concerned? Here's why I ask: being on the job market, I use a site tracker on my academic homepage to see who is checking out my site. (Often overheard statement in our house: "Ooh! Someone from [University X] checked my site today!") Not surprisingly, perhaps the most common referrer leading people to my site is a Google search of my name. The top four entries in a Google search of my name are as follows:

1. My academic homepage
2. My dissertation abstract
3. A page for the journal of which I am an editorial board member
4. My mother's obituary

Isn't that something? Everyone who Googles me learns in very short order that my mom is deceased...including members of search committees and prospective employers. And I'm not sure how I feel about that, to be honest. It used to be that the only "personal" items indexed in a Google search for me were a healthy recipe suggestion I sent into Shape magazine years ago, and the minutes from the city zoning board meeting during which we requested a variance in order to build our new garage. In other words, totally innocuous and boring items that don't say much about me other than that I like healthy alternatives to junk food and that I own a two-car garage.

But my mom's obituary is a different story. It's weird for me to imagine someone receiving my application for an assistant professor position in his or her department, hopping on Google to see what information about me can be learned, and reading my mom's obituary. It's not that I am embarrassed or ashamed of my mother's death -- it's just that this feels like a bit too much information to share with someone who is evaluating me in a professional capacity. I imagine people searching for me generally think something along the lines of, "Oh, shit." upon seeing the obituary, but maybe that's not the case. I don't know. All I know is that it gives me pause to know that prospective employers, colleagues, and other members of my professional circles become immediately privy to this part of my life story thanks to Google. What do you think? Is this just a natural consequence of e-communication? Should old ideas about privacy, especially in academic job searches, be reconsidered in the context of instantaneous information? Or am I right to feel a bit unsettled about the whole thing?