501derful.org
This is an interesting article about the evolution of the social networking and the information that it gathers. The author poses the question, ‘is friendster.com the next step toward the Total Information Act’? She notes that even ardent privacy activists are posting and using these Friend of a Friend (FOAF) sites. If we are so concerned with privacy from the government why are we posting so many of our personal details online for complete strangers to see?
The author of the article’s right. The reason to distrust government is because it’s got the power to throw you in the slammer or disappear you. Marketers and others usually don’t have that much power or reason to mess with you. The exception is crazies such as stalkers. I read an article by a woman who found out that anyone who has her telephone number can use a reverse dierectory, learn her address and get a map to her house. The problem is that once a data-based record is created it’s almost impossible to eliminate. I talked to a guy who works for a company that does archiving of company records. He says somewhere there’s always a backup of erased information. Next panic over terrorism look for the FBI to drag TIA out of the closet and use Friendster to capture those networks…that is, if they haven’t already.