I am convinced the Internet will increasingly become a tool for discrimination used by employers to gain information that should not, but can have an impact on the hiring process.

While there are laws to protect people on the basis of many things like race, age, sexual orientation and disability, these can now be circumvented by just about anyone with the basic ability use Google and other search tools. A natural consequence of living in the age of information is going to increasingly be e-discrimination.

I work in the staffing industry and have taken the courses on the Equal Opportunity Employment and all that. I always adhere to the fact that only the relevant things about a person's ability should impact their chances at securing a job.

I don't care about a person's race, age, sexual orientation, appearance or disability. But because other people in my role do and have been, numerous laws and regulations are now in place to protect job seekers. Yet I could easily circumvent these laws if I really wanted to be a or a racist or bigot.

Have you ever Googled yourself? Most people probably haven't, but they should. Simply type your name in using quotation marks, ie "John Smith". This will bring up millions of results. To narrow it down, you can add things such as city, state, profession, employer and the like. The more information you add the more it narrows the search down.

Most people in human resources, especially recruiters, are skilled in using Internet search tools to find qualified people for positions. It is a necessary part of our occupation, there are limited people for what I recruit for and finding similar people is necessary to make placements for our clients.

Often times, I find more information than I need from Internet searches. For example, I was looking for a "John Smith" last week for a highly scientific position.

I Googled him as a referral from someone to find out his contact information and not only found web results that told me only where he worked, but also that this particular John Smith was a 53-year-old, African American, Catholic married with four children and the coach of a little league soccer team in his hometown. He also has short graying hair with a goatee and wears glasses.

Not only was I, the person looking to source this guy for a job- a great opportunity that pays more, find his contact information, I also found out a whole lot of other information I did not need to know. The Internet brought up all the other web sites that reflected things outside his professional interests. His children's soccer team was listed in the newspaper with him as the coach. The priest at his church mentioned him and his wife in a thank you posting on the Parish blog.

A site that uses a variety of public records ( www.zabasearch.com) showed me what year he was born in. An African American professional group announcing conference attendees told me he was African American and a Google image search directed me to a recent photo revealing his gray hair and the fact he wears glasses.

The Internet, in it's non-discriminate design in bringing up search results from Boolean algorithms, transcends the laws we have developed to protect people traditionally prone to discrimination. An employer who wants to know things we are not legally allowed to ask or know through the application and interviewing process can find out if they have a basic knowledge of google and other search engines.

A name on a resume may not reveal a person's race, but a Google image search can as well as a minority professional association announcing conference attendees. And all the employer needs is the person's name and other information like geographic area, previous companies or professions, school or any other information to help us narrow down multiple search results.

We live in an age where everyday people have access to vast amounts of information that would have traditionally required too much research to be effective in circumventing laws to protect groups of people vulnerable to discrimination.

It would be nice to think we live in a world where society does need not to protect certain people's ability to make a living, but the reality is that ignorance and intolerance do affect the judgment of decision makers who control the gates of opportunity. Now, anyone with an Internet connection and some elementary training can use it to the disadvantage of facilitating equality in our society if they are determined to do so.

Personally, I have seen age discrimination to be the most prevalent form of discrimination in the hiring process. Professionals in their 50s are especially vulnerable. Many decision makers at companies I have worked with believe people in their 50s will be overpriced because of their experience level, that people in their 50s will not commit to the company long term or may not have the desire to work as hard for advancement as someone more junior in their career.

Using the Internet in a sinister way can reveal age, even when a resume won't (though I would caution people to be wary of putting dates of employment and years graduated from school For example, someone who graduate college in 1972 can reasonably be assumed to be about 57 if they went to college when they were 18 and graduated in 4 years, which means they would be 22 in 1972 and 57 in the year 2007).

As the use of search engines and the need for companies to source a limited pool of people becomes more engrained into the hiring process, so too will e-discrimination.

The sad thing is that policing hiring practices on the Internet will be nearly impossible. Even if a case were brought up where company internet records were subpoenaed, the employer could still do the same web-based searches on an applicant at home, from their blackberry or in a cyber café.

For now, my advice to job seekers who are concerned that information on the Internet could negatively impact them on the search is to do the following:

First, google yourself. If your name is uncommon, there will be fewer results to sort through. A John or Jane Smith will have to add additional information like profession and city or anything else to eliminate irrelevant results. A less common name will require less weeding out, but nearly everyone in the world has a proper and surname combination twin out there somewhere.

Second, if you believe you may be prone to age discrimination do not put dates graduated from school, simply put the degree and field you received. Go back only 10 years for your job experience, the further you go back, the older you will be assumed.

Third, certain names will intrinsically reveal information about your ethnic status. There really is no way to void this and I would suggest that if you are concerned about this to realize most employers will not discriminate on that basis, but some will. If you were passed over for an opportunityask specific questions about why your application was rejected and what made the successful applicant stand out from you. If you suspect anything improper and want to fight it --- then do, but also realize proving discrimination is difficult, if not impossible for job seekers.

Fourth, make sure you search images and personal websites for your name, phone number and email address (these are often listed in directories, archives of chat groups, blogs and message boards). If a phone number search reveals your number is listed in an online religious directory that will reveal information to the employer about your belief system you do not need them to know. Also check for any unflattering photos of you. Holding a beer and passing out on a fraternity floor during an alumni reunion may have been cool in college, but will be a reason for an employer to not hire you (could be seen as immature, unprofessional or a sign of alcoholism).

Fifth, make sure your personal web sites, especially those where other people are able to comment about you, are set to private. A site such as linkedin.com is a good one for displaying professional interests --- a myspace profile where you are trying to express your individuality should not be something a potential employer has access to.

Sixth, just like you check your credit report to know what creditors are saying about you, check the internet to know what is being said about your name and how your personal information is possibly being broadcast on a regular basis. If there is anything you want to not be out there, find out who is in charge of the web site and be prepared to ask them to take it down. Be prepared for them to not and use legal action if necessary.

Seventh, there is no reason for you to not be able to express yourself and interests through the rich online medium we now have. But you may want to consider using an e-donym for both your name and email address. For example, John Smith whose email is johnsmith@webdomainname.com could use Johnny S and the email JS577@webdomainname.com for online personal pages, message boards and online groups that reflect other information you may need to keep anonymous when searching for professional opportunities. If anything, it is just a prudent measure to use in preserving your anonymity.

The only way to protect ourselves from the reality of living in an imperfect world is to realize the people who often control opportunity are sometimes controlled by their biases.

Should I wake up tomorrow with a few less brain cells and want to discriminate against people I am trying to place with my clients, I can very easily do so with the basic Internet search skills I use every day to find them in the first place. I promise you I will not, but I cannot and you should not assume everyone will not.