Socio-Cultural
Privacy Is Dead: Does anyone care?
by The Muser on Dec.29, 2009, under Socio-Cultural
Seriously. Does anyone give a crap?
…besides me, that is. I ask because…
Social media sites (SMS), such as Facebook, Twitter…and others, have offered a trade. It goes like this…
SMS: Hey! Want to play with my cool new communication technology? It’ll let you stay updated on what your friends are doing!
Uninformed Public Joe (UPJ): Sure! Sounds great! What’s it cost?
SMS: Nothing! That’s the best part! All you have to do is register, agree to our Terms of Service and you’re in! It’s easy!
UPJ: It doesn’t cost me anything? Really?! Wow!
SMS: You won’t spend a nickel. Want the link to register?
UPJ: You bet!
Later on, UPJ talks to Informed Public Jane (IPJ)…
UPJ: Hey! Come join me on SMS!
IPJ: Uh, no thanks.
UPJ: Why not? It’s free!
IPJ: Nothing is free. There’s a catch.
UPJ: Nope. Not this time. All I had to do was register.
IPJ: *smirks* Uh, huh…and did you have to agree to Terms of Service?
UPJ: Sure, but just click OK when it comes up.
IPJ: Did you read those Terms of Service?
UPJ: Nah, they’re all alike. You agree to play nice blah blah blah.
IPJ: So you didn’t read the part where it says you agree to give SMS access to all of the information on your SMS page?
UPJ: I don’t have anything there anyway, so it’s not big deal. Sheesh! Lighten up, will ya?
IPJ: So, you don’t have your full name? No pictures of yourself or your children? You don’t list your birthdate or that of your kids? You didn’t tell them what religion you follow? What political affiliations you have? What books you read? Nothing like that, huh?
UPJ: uh…I think I did, yeah. But so what, it’s just so they can help you connect with other people like myself.
IPJ: So, you don’t think they’ll sell any of that information, huh? I mean, they’re going to put up all that computer equipment, buy all that network bandwidth to let 300 million people connect and they won’t charge anyone anything. They’re just that loving and caring, eh?
UPJ: uh…
IPJ: Look, you clearly don’t understand. So let me spell it out. You TRADED your personal information for the services they provide. You GAVE them (for free) information that THEY can sell to others. And even if you don’t care if they make a profit from your information, just know that YOU no longer control YOUR information. It’s in THEIR control. They get to use it however they wish and all you can do is cancel your subscription. But they get to KEEP everything you gave them.
UPJ: uh…
IPJ: That includes all of the photos you uploaded, all of the comments you posted on your page and on all of your friends’ pages–your family photos of your children, your dog, your parakeet–everything. They get to access it and use in whatever way they see fit.
UPJ: Uh…well…
IPJ: Yeah, so no thanks. I’ll keep my personal information to myself.
…and I didn’t even bring up the information you give your bank when you take out a loan, your insurance company to get insurance, your physician to get treatment, your mechanic, your grocery store to get that cool discount card…and on…and on…and on…
