Yeah, yeah. We’ve heard it all before. Your blog is a public record anyone can read, so anything you write can come back to haunt you. Usually, though, these tales deal with prospective employers turning bloggers down for a job after reading what they have written. Hossein Derakhshan has another more consequential take on the repercussions of having your life and views hanging out on the web for all to see.

Derakhshan, a freelance web designer and journalist, was born in Tehran and has been living for the last six months in a friend’s apartment in Manhattan. After visiting Toronto for the night, he hopped a bus back for the U.S. Border guards, as is their custom, interviewed all the passengers on the bus. When they got to Derakhshan, he told them he was on his way to speak at a blog-related conference. That led one of the guards to Google him and then spend a copious amount of time reading his blog posts. The guard learned that Derakhshan had been back to Tehran since leaving five years ago. He was denied entry for at least six months.

eWeek has a summary of the story. Derakhshan’s blog post, “Goodbye to America,” has attracted more than 90 comments; the diversity of opinion is fascinating, from sympathy over the experience to kudos to the border guards for using Google as a resource.