Here’s my problem with Facebook and Twitter.

[Cyrano]

More people are voluntarily making information about themselves public than has ever (or could have ever) occurred in the history of the world.

Why would the government ever have reason to spy on anyone again when so many are willingly, and idiotically, posting their experiences and their very existences into the public domain?

For those of you who have not yet joined this insanity, write down what I’m about to say. It may rank among some of the most valuable advice you will ever receive.

The best protection you have in this world is anonymity. It’s far more powerful than a gun or any other weapon of choice. Think about it. Why would anyone care about you as any sort of threat, or even as an "enemy," if they didn’t even know you existed?

Cut out that last paragraph, put it in a safety deposit box, and pass it on to your great grandchildren (assuming the world lasts that long). I didn’t steal that quote from anyone. It’s my own personal philosophy of surviving this world as long as possible.

There is, of course, the problem that by registering on DU, (and other sites), there are some who know who I am. But I guess that’s part of the price of warning others to the dangers of opening up your life to strangers. (Then again, there are even ways around that.)

[Lasher]

1. And once you put that photo up on Facebook, it's out there forever.

Lots of young folks are going to regret such things later in life.

[napi21]

7. I suspect many already regret some things they've posted,

not only on Facebook & Twitter, but on the internet anywhere. Many people, but especially the young don't or can't recognize what FOREVER really means. To lots of young people next week is a long way away!

[Lasher]

16. Well I'm glad I've always been careful here on DU so that I've never said anything I've regretted.

:blush: :eyes:

[napi21]

21. I thought I was too, but I did make a big mistake about 2 years ago.

I'm still not sure how I was identified, but I inadvertantely almost got my husband fired! I've never used my name and it's the only time I've ever posted something while I was still in a pi**ed off state. All was worked out & he's retired now. I wasn't sorry for posting what I did because it was all true, but I sure never wanted to create trouble for my husband, and for that I'm really sorry.

Be very careful what you post & where, and how much info you give. Unforseen consequences can be very serious!

[pipi_k]

26. Huh. I'm still waiting for someone in RL to recognize me by my photo...

:cry:

[NeedleCast]

2. Might be true if all this informations wasn't already avaliable

You think "they" don't know you exist?

Birth Cerftificate
Socail Security Card
Drivers License/ID card
Etc, Etc, Etc...

I'm assuming your figurative "they" is the government. They're already quite aware of you.

[Cyrano]

4. Aware of our existence? Yes. Aware of our thoughts and opinions? No.

[NeedleCast]

9. Maybe I'm just not paranoid enough

I'm not terribly concereda about the governments ability to monitor my thoughts and opinions.

Between social networking sites, I even if "they" were monitoring it "they" would have enough manpower to canvas 1% of what gets posted.

"They" would have a much easier time finding my general opinions based on how I vote and what organizations I belong to.

[MicaelS]

6. The government doesn't worry me as much as business

When corporate HR people are looking on social networking sites, and using THAT as a tool to decide to hire, not hire or fire people, that tells me enough to stay far away from those type of places.

[NeedleCast]

11. I agree that this is a bigger concer

But then, they can't access my Facebook account unless I grant them premission, so it really has no bearing on initial hiring.

[Cyrano]

13. Okay. If you don't know by now who owns the government, there's no use

in my repeating it.

[nebenaube]

3. actually

self-censorship is a better tool.

[Cyrano]

14. I think we're talking about the same thing using different words.

[Starry Messenger]

5. The last (and only) time I got stopped by a cop

he knew practically everything about me by the time he got to the window of my truck. The privacy ship has sailed.

[Cyrano]

10. Not really. The key is to make your privacy a priority.

And even in today's "connected world" it can be done. You don't have to live in a cardboard box on a subway grating to drop off the radar.

I doubt if anyone's ever written a book about this, but why would they? After all, anonymoty is invaluable. And once given up, it can't be regained.

[Starry Messenger]

32. That was more of an off the cuff remark

At any rate, it's not too hard to mask yourself on FB & twitter if you want to. Plenty of people use aliases and you can have a high level of protection on your FB account so only the people you want can see what you post. You can even create sub-lists in your contacts that control the levels for people you want to keep in touch with but don't necessarily want them to know your life story.

Loompanics used to sell books about staying anonymous. I don't know if they are still around.

[paulsby]

30. we (cops) know FAR less about you than do corporations

it's not even CLOSE.

supermarkets, for instance. got one of those shopper cards? they know exactly what you buy, when you buy, etc. in the US, the VAST majority of surveillance cameras are in private hands.

when i was trying to gather intel on suspects when i worked a certain unit, i relied more on pay intelligence sites run by private companies than on police databases. for one, i didn't need any warrant, probable cause, or even reasonable suspicion etc to use private databases whereas i did in many cases for cop databases.

i remember there was one guy i just couldn't track down. he was off the govt. grid. however, he was pretty buffed, so on a hunch i went to a few gyms, and found out where he worked out and what times he came in. that's how i caught him.


intelius, for example, is a great resource.

it's actually a running joke amongst cops that if you want to find out about somebody don't rely on our piecemeal, poorly maintained, and disconnected databases, use the info that PRIVATE businesses have on you.

[seabeyond]

8. my oldest son googled my handle. told me to be aware of what i say on du. not to mention

hubby having total access to my stuff.

fb and ms.... i dont use.

but anything i put in the computer is stuff open to all people, aware access can be had by all.

[Warpy]

12. Nothing ever dies in cyberspace

Back in the good old days, you could live down that embarrassing stuff on the front page of the hometown news. You could move and nobody would ever know. Now the dirty picture you let your high school boyfriend take is going to haunt your employment prospects forever.

The only hope kids with poor judgment have is that there is so much of this stuff flooding the net that people take it for what it is, the poor judgment of a kid who didn't know how the world worked.

More problematic is the fact that any lunatic out there can have a fantasy, hang a random face from Facebook on it, and turn into a serious stalker.

So yeah, that's why I don't do Facebook. Twitter is a little more anonymous, but I'm more a reader than a poster, although I do contact people there from time to time if they look like they know what they're talking about.

Come the completion of the fascist revolution, they're still going to have a hard time sorting through all my screen names to find me. I'm just not going to make it easy for them on Facebook.

[Dreamer Tatum]

15. ...said someone with 6500 posts on an internet discussion board nt

[Cyrano]

17. Bad comparison.

No face. And as I said previously, there really is more than one way to register for a site without disclosing who you actually are.

It's really not that hard. Ponder it for a while and perhaps you'll figure it out.

[madmom]

19. I have a face book account, it does not have my pic on it and only info that is

already public knowledge, actually less than I put on this board. So it really is just a matter of being discreet and aware IMO

[Dreamer Tatum]

22. All it would take is one person who can put your face to your account

and your entire political philosophy is out there, which can cause just as much trouble as a few pics of your kid's birthday party.

[The Straight Story]

18. I don't have a probably freely giving info, it is mine to do so - taking it from me though

that is what I am against.

Been online since bbs days, and nothing bad has happened ......AAHHHHHHHh

[knixphan]

20. FB is my progressive soapbox

So all that anyone will get is more of what they get on DU anyways -

All DU'ers are welcome to friend me -
www.facebook.com/people/James-Parris/598423721

[azmouse]

23. I've never even visited either website and have no intention to do so.

They are time wasters.

[BuelahWitch]

24. There's also a website now where you share information about what you've purchased

I'm like you Cyrano, I don't want everyone to know where I am and what I'm doing/buying all the time. But even besides the privacy issue, who cares? I have a friend who posts every mundane thing she does, whether it's doing laundry or taking her kids to the doctor. I guess she thinks everyone is interested to know when she's doing laundry, but I don't feel that's something I need to know.

[Lex]

25. Heh, you remind me of

Dale Gribble --->

[upi402]

34. When the cynics are actually the naive

the world is not what it should be, or like good people such as you.

[bluescribbler]

27. I do use FB

I'm careful about what I post there. I mostly use it to connect with friends, (real friends, not cyberspace friends). I don't post about what I did last night, or stuff like that. Any employer can look at my FB, and will find no reason to fire or refuse to hire me.











I hope.

[kiva]

28. For anyone who doesn't think that there are people who

save and compile info from sites like DU, go to "the site that shall not be named" and look at the gazillion threads - almost 150,000 posts - devoted to DU members. I was shocked to see the detailed bios they have on DUers who post frequently - what sort of work they do and personal data like age, how many children, info about spouses - damn scary.

[AsahinaKimi]

29. While my computer can barely handle

Facebook,which I am not presently using, I still love Twitter. I can name a number of reasons, mostly because of my connections to people who still live in Asia, and Japan, who I can learn more about the Culture my Parents left behind. I love my twitter friends, and making new ones. You are limited to how much you can type on twitter, which means you can hardly say much at all. Especially when the stream of tweets are really rolling by.

Still I enjoy it, and there are many links given out about the things I am interested in. I have friends both here in California and in Asia, that are very nice people, and its great to get their perspectives on this little blue marble in space we call Earth.

[earth mom]

31. I have Facebook and Twitter accounts and post nothing on them.

No pictures, no comments, no followers, nothing.

I'm sorry now that I even signed up in the first place. I should have known better. :argh: :banghead:

[upi402]

33. why i won't twitter or facebook

unnecessary- and can be an info gathering tool, therefore misused.

posting here is a risk that I accept to create an opposition party to corporatism.

[JerseygirlCT]

35. I don't really want to live that way, though.

I'll take my chances by not being anonymous with a select groups of friends.

[MilesColtrane]

36. Here's a web site that points to another problem with Twittering Tweeters.

Their tagline is "Listing all those empty homes out there".


http://pleaserobme.com/

[ChicagoSuz219]

37. Years ago, I read this quote:

"Live your life like the whole world is watching."

I took it to heart. Probably lucky I did, because now it's true... ;-)

[Odin2005]

38. You can set exactly who you want and don't want to see your Facebook profile.

How hard is that?

[pipi_k]

43. Exactly...I don't know why anyone wouldn't set those controls

If they know about them, I mean.

I set mine so only people I allow to see my details will see them

[Control-Z]

39. I am very careful

about what I write here on DU. It didn't take long for me to figure out how easily my identity could be found and followed - and in fact there is a Wikipedia article that links back to me here.

I don't think it is particularly worrisome - the same information was already available before posting at DU, but I am always aware and often find myself canceling a reply after I've written it.

It's not that I have anything to hide - or that anyone would be interested, anyway. It is just a matter of maintaining the idea of privacy. It is probably why I don't use Facebook or Twitter.

I agree with your OP. And have warned my children. Fortunately, as far as I know, most of their posts are about photography, skateboarding and other benign hobbies and ideas.

[DaveJ]

40. Could you please expound a bit?

About anonymity being more powerful than a 'gun' or a 'weapon of choice', is this anonymity supposed to be used in some aggressive manner? Strange analogy. Lots of folks go into hiding or change their names after doing bad things, like to avoid paying child support or after they have committed serious crimes. Just in my own personal experience, people who want to be anonymous have typically done harmful things to others. And I'm not sure it is possible to avoid harm by being anonymous, even if that were possible... one would have to live 'off the grid' totally, no phonebook listing, no address in their name, etc., that's pretty hard to do.

Oh, and also, as FB users know, they usually make their profiles available only to their friends, employers usually never see them.

[Cyrano]

42. Privacy is a basic human right to which we are all entitled.

Why do you assume that only those who are "avoiding" something seek that right, or are planning to do something aggressive?

And while it can be difficult to "live off the grid," a tremendous degree of anonymity is possible by taking a few basic precautions.

But if you don't care if your private life is an open book, go for it.

[Chemical Bill]

41. Yeah but....

"The best protection you have in this world is anonymity."

The best weapon we have is community.

Bill

[gmoney]

44. Not to mention identity theft...

People list their birthdate and location, parents names, siblings, spouse, kids, job history, school history, etc etc. Probably more than enough for someone to at least get a head start on duplicate birth certificates, social security, and all the rest. Photos certainly help, too.

Folks are talking about the biometric national ID, and who knows? Maybe some sort of wholesale collapse of privacy via facebook or Google or something would lead to that being "necessary."

Then fire-breathing Jesus comes with a 17-bladed sword riding a six-headed stallion that spits acid, or something like that.