Weiner Scandal A Sign Of The Times, Expert Says

CHICAGO (CBS) – The downfall of Congressman Anthony Weiner is sign of the digital times, one local expert says.

The biggest mistake of the New York representative may be in believing privacy still exists. He resigned Thursday following revelations that he had posted racy photos of himself.

"It's absolutely a cautionary tale," Harold Krent, dean of Chicago-Kent College of Law, tells CBS 2's Derrick Blakley. "People continue to forget that when you put something out on Twitter, the Internet, Facebook, it's there for the whole world to see."

Experts say anyone can find themselves in the same predicament.

"Privacy is something you can't count on, because the person who received the post can always re-Tweet it or re-post it to somebody else," Krent says.

Krent calls it a technological tradeoff: loss of privacy in exchange for Facebook-style personal expression.

"You forget that even though you are living your own dreams and fulfilling your own personal self through a social medium, you're also exposing yourself to public view," he says.