Especially when it comes to the huge amount of Facebook apps, I am worried. Not about the applications themselves, but by the way people uses them without any criticism and understanding of how they give away information about themselves and their network.
Of course it is fun that friends decides to throw virtual snowballs at you, vote you the most hansom in their network, want to add your birthday to their calendar and so forth. And what is even nicer is that the fact that your friends does this to you means that you have a certain popularity. And being popular is always nice, and as result, you will lower your guard. And by lowering your guards, you become an easy target - not a target of those friends trying to hit you with a snowball, but a target of those creating applications only to harvest information about
- you, your networks,
- your whereabouts,
- interests,
- religion,
- political views,
- who you know,
- who you communicate with most,
- how you communicate,
- what you say
- to whom you say it
- and so forth...
Sometimes I tell my contacts that I block most applications on Facebook. Other times I do not. I just click the "Block this application". And yes, I accept that by doing so, I risk to be received as a boring old man. And I am, when it comes to my privacy. As long as I do not know who is getting my information, how they use it, for how long they will keep it and whether or not I can trust them, I keep the information to my self.
And when it comes to the applications on Facebook, they may have been developed by a fanatic hacker who is out to cash in on selling your information to the highest bidder. They may also be developed by the order of a foreign (or allied) state, harvesting intelligence about their own people, or people in a target state.
Most of us have read the 1984 by George Orwell. And most of us have some idea of what was going on during the cold war (and most other wars) - governments collected information about everyone, because everyone could be a terrorist, could be working for the enemy, could have ideas and views opposing the "accepted values".
And this still goes on in the war on terrorists - it is extremely easy to show up on the "radar", but to clear your name may turn out to be very hard - as opposed to the publicly accepted principles of justice, when it comes to war, you no longer need to be proven guilty. It is more than enough to be suspected.
Using the Internet to gather this type of information is so easy that former surveillance officers are wetting their pants. And the ease which they are lullying all of us into the safety of surveillance is alarming. Hiding surveillance as nice-to-have tools - like video surveillance to stop thiefes lifting your pocket on the street (who believes that the camera really stops someone picking you pocket anyway???), GPS devices on phones to help you find your way (giving away your exact position and target to Google and who know how many others...), fraud detection systems in the banks (following your every movement and the shops you visit - in real time).
The list goes on forever. And we accept it. It is so easy to accept. It has become a habit. Something we just do. Just like when Facebook shows us their privacy policy and user agreements. No need to read it through, just click "I accept this" - whatever it says. And that is what most of us do. Just accept it.
We choose to trust this application with our most personal information - including pictures from parties, our current moods, our social life, interests. You name it, and you will find it.
I do not enjoy virtual snowballs. I prefer the real thing. Then you know what hits you. And when. You can wipe your neck, and move on. With the virtual snowballs you have no control, and you have no idea what will hit you and when. All you know is that having fun with your friends comes with a price, and that price is sharing your privacy information. To someone else but your friend. Someone is using your friend to trick you to give away valuable information that may make of break your future.
I have nothing against snowball wars amongst friends. I'll take your challenge any day. As long as we use real snow!
On a side note - enjoy this lovestory!
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