PHELPS' KODAK MOMENT ALSO CAPTURES TEACHABLE ONE

Big Brother isn't just government; it's anyone with a cellphone camera.

In the five days since a London tabloid ran a photo of Olympic hero
Michael Phelps appearing to take a hit on a bong pipe, his celestial
celebrity has set off a global chatterfest over marijuana use and
whether he should be prosecuted.

So let's get our take on those matters out of the way before we get
to a more universal lesson.

When corporations are paying you millions not only because you're the
best swimmer in history but also to project a clean-cut image that
sells their products, it's pretty stupid and awfully irresponsible to
smoke marijuana in public, as the photographic evidence suggests
Phelps was doing at a University of South Carolina house party in November.

That's true regardless of whether you're just 23, a favorite excuse
of Phelps' defenders. Regardless of whether you've spent your young
life in unrelenting training, as Phelps did. And regardless of
whether you think that so many people have smoked pot, including our
current president, that it ought to be legal. It is, in fact,
illegal, and many people have been punished for doing it.

As for prosecution, the sheriff in Richland County, S.C., is
investigating, and Phelps should be treated no better or worse than
anyone else in similar circumstances -- not singled out for
prosecution to make an example of him or let off because he's famous.
It's worth noting, though, that Phelps has already experienced the
humiliation that a conviction would normally deliver, and more
concrete penalties started rolling in Thursday. USA Swimming
suspended Phelps for three months, and Kellogg announced it will let
his lucrative endorsement contract expire at the end of this month.
Given those circumstances, it might be tough to argue that a minor
marijuana prosecution is the best use of law enforcement resources.

The far broader lesson from Phelps' photo, shot with a cellphone
camera, is that nothing is private any more. In this era of hand-held
technology, the Internet and YouTube, anything people do can be
caught on camera, sent 'round the world instantly and frozen forever
as part of their biographies. We have met Big Brother, and he is us.

Celebrities are the most vulnerable. Britain's Prince Harry was
caught on videotape, posted last month by the same tabloid that
shamed Phelps, making derogatory comments about Pakistanis and Arabs.

But this sort of thing doesn't just happen to the famous. In
December, Internet photos surfaced of then President-elect Barack
Obama's chief speechwriter, Jon Favreau, groping a cardboard cutout
of Hillary Clinton.

Much farther from the halls of power, young people can be branded by
embarrassing tapes and still photos taken at parties or even by
images they themselves post on popular social networking sites such
as Facebook or MySpace. Antics that seem like fun at the time can
linger forever, hurting their chances for a college admission, a
first job or an important position in later life.

You can bet a whole lot of people in prominent positions today are
glad the sins of their youth are not immortalized on the Internet.

Michael Phelps gets no role model points, but he offers an
instructive example. These days, it's awfully easy for stupid
behavior to come back and bite you, and it can keep biting forever.