Nothing's Private: 8 Simple Online Rules
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To those "quitting" Facebook on May 31st. See ya. You won't email me updates, or send me texts about how you are doing, you'll just disappear into the ether. So once you do that mass "exodus" from FB to protest privacy issues, I probably will never hear from you again.
On May 31st there is a small movement to quit Facebook over privacy issues. To date only 5987 people have signed to quit that day on QuitFacebookDay.com.
The question is "what is private?", hundreds if not thousands of people have access to my email addresses, my websites and my cell number. What I have put out into the ether is what I want public, I don't post images or text that I consider harmful to others or to myself.
Every time I enter my information to a website to buy goods, I am sending my data to a massive database that uses that to access what I want to buy in the future, where I live, my income, my credit rating, what my gender will veer towards in a new product line - I am giving my life over to keywords and to a query search that will benefit them. Its a fact of life that every word I type will become keywords and tags that will define who I am.
If I Quit Facebook, I'll Never Hear From My Cousin Again
I will not be quitting Facebook on May 31st. I believe that for the free service that Facebook is giving me it is worth the misinformed ads that are displayed discreetly on the right side of my pages. I can even give feedback to Facebook by marking each ad "offensive", "misleading" and so on. I believe in paying for creativity. What is creativity worth?
Over a million downloads of the leaked Wolverine film
It has occurred to me that privacy of an individual supersedes the masses clamoring for free downloads. Where are these "privacy" issues people when it comes to downloading free pirated content? Its only an issue when it hits home, I bet I can find at least one pirated dvd or music cd in each of their homes.
So before protesting the Privacy issues on Facebook, look to what you are posting online elsewhere, your blogs, your comments on blogs, your websites, and see if life is at all private online.
Simple Rules to Live By Online:
1. Don't use a computer to harm other people.
2. Don't interfere with other people's computer work.
3. Don't snoop around in other people's files.
4. Don't use a computer to steal.
5. Don't use a computer to bear false witness.
6. Don't use or copy software for which you have not paid.
7. Don't use other people's computer resources without authorization.
8. Do use a computer in ways that show consideration and respect.
Image: My Facebook Profile Photo.
