Facebook's Dark Side (And Some Thoughts Why I Blog)

I'd seen this before but a friend sending it to me last week inspired me to get it up on the blog.  It's a Flash video making some conspiracy theorist claims about Facebook – the people who run it having CIA ties, the abuse of its data-mining abilities and so on.

I'm not sure what to think – it could be true, it could be time for somebody to put their tinfoil hat back on.  But the way I look at it, if there is
a secret cabal controlling the world, they're operating at such a
higher level than my day-to-day reality, that it's as if they don't
exist anyhow (if that makes sense.)



I especially like how they claim these shady links to the Department of
Defense when really, that's who created the Internet and so by this person's
rationale,
everything on the Internet is a military-industrial complex
conspiracy (including this blog.  Watch out!  I'm tracking you!) 

Okay, it's a bit more blatant than that when some of Facebook's top executives have direct DND connections but at the same time, you do ultimately have control about how much (or how little information) you put up on that site.

I have Facebook friends who have their first name, their last initial and not a whole lot more.  That's not the spirit of the place (in my opinion) but again, if you worry about how your information is being used, go ahead and make it a bit harder for the Illuminati to track you if you think it helps.

But other than perhaps listing your political and religious beliefs, I'm not sure if it's something to really worry about.  The Flash video says stuff like:

“With
Facebook, you can see people's favourite books.  Or the Top 10 Movies
in any University community.”  Oooh, look out, the CIA is going to
dicovery that people actually like Tom Cruise and hate JK Rowling!



And of couse, there's the fact that anything will sound ominous with a deadpan delivery and some creepy background music. 


I think there's a deeper issue of how willing (young and/or tech savvy) people are to put up personal details online which is something that came up a lot at the Sask Library Association conference this weekend.

I get called on this by friends all the time.  Obviously, if you're reading this, you know that I'm someone who has decided to be fairly open about my background, my interests, and my personal beliefs online.  I don't know why teenagers do it but it made me wonder, why do I do this?

I think there are a few reasons:
– I believe that society, as a whole, is better when you are open with any and all information rather than secretive.  This can probably backfire and there are times when discretion is required but I think people err on the side of keeping information private and guarded too easily and too often. 

– I believe in a collaborative society and part of that deal is that you have to put your own information out there if you're going to be accessing other people's information – their blogs, their photosets on Flickr, etc.  Peer-to-peer networking, in all its forms, makes for a better world.

– I want my blog and Facebook profile and other outlets to be interesting and there are a couple easy ways to do this:

1) talk a lot about other people (the “this is what I think of Classmate X, this is how I feel about co-worker Y” school of blogging)

2) talk a lot about yourself (also know as the Golden Rule of Writing: “Write What You Know”).

I choose the second option (for the most part) because besides being the subject I know best, the responsibility for what I write, if I say too much, only (hopefully) comes back on me. 

I know there could be people whose opinion of me changes because they know my political or religious views or even because of some off-hand comment I make on this blog about some little thing.  But I think most of the people reading this are educated, critical-thinkers who are able to deal very well with differing viewpoints and worldviews. 

Here's a semi-related anecdote to this whole topic.  I bumped into Michelle D. at SLA and we were standing at the registration desk when a classmate of mine from high school who works in the Sask library community came up.  “What was Jason like in high school?” Michelle asked.  “I was a nerd!” I blurted.  “No, not really, Jason was pretty much the same as he is now – somebody who was always friendly and got along with everybody.” 

It's rare that you get some kind of true insight into other people perceive you so that was kind of nice to hear.  And to bring it full circle, I think that's the final reason I feel comfortable with being so open about myself online.  I hope that I'm secure enough with myself and who I am that I don't mind being open about that via my online presence.

Okay, I gotta go find out what all these strange charges on my VISA are…

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