Archive for February, 2009

There’s a video circulating the internet, The Truth About Facebook, that explains how Facebook collects all kinds of data about members and has the right, according to the membership agreement, to do basically whatever they want with it. This much is fairly obvious, if a little disconcerting.

But the video goes on to talk about unsettling connections between Facebook and companies connected to the CIA. This raises the question -is Facebook part of a larger effort to create a massive, global database that has all of your info stored in one place?

There’s no question that if you value privacy, you should avoid social networks like Facebook -or, at least give them the minimum amount of data. One of the ironies of the modern age is that much of the data “they” have on us is what we voluntarily give “them.”

However, I look at it a little differently. I think Facebook, like the internet itself, is a good opportunity to connect with many people in a variety of ways. If you look at the “theys” who run anything whether it be nations, corporations or any kind of institutions, you will not have to look hard to find less than altruistic motives at work. Often, the motives are some combination of greed and desire for power. That does not mean that we have to use the tools provided to us by these institutions in a way that will help them achieve their goals.

The internet is a good example of something that was created as a tool for the government and military, but has turned into something that has a much wider, and in many ways contradictory use. This may not be an original idea, but I suspect that the best way to subvert any system is from within. When you try to do it the other way, from the outside, you end up disempowering yourself. For example, if you don’t use money or technology because they are controlled by TPTB (the powers that be), you are allowing them to dominate these areas.

Another aspect to this is that privacy is pretty much a doomed cause. Unless civilization collapses entirely (in which case we’ll have bigger problems at hand than worrying about our privacy), the fact is that you can be tracked very easily no matter where you are. This will most likely get worst, and trying to safeguard privacy, while a legitimate concern in many cases, is basically fighting the current.
Would it not be better to work towards a world where there’s less to fear so that it isn’t such a big deal if others can find out things about you?

So I say, use capitalism, the internet and even Facebook, but in a way that serves the values you believe in. At the same time, you may want to keep in mind that anything you post online can be shared with anyone else on the planet, but you probably know this already.