Facebook – A Shiny Trojan Horse

A lifestyle comment ...


I thoroughly dislike Facebook. There. I said it aloud. And I know I’m not alone. Maybe I should start a Facebook Healing Program: “Hi. My name is LinDee and I’m a recovering Facebook member.”

I can’t say I’ve ever been a Facebook fanatic. I used to be a private person and my sole purpose for joining was to connect with others on a business level. But its uses for many people are multi-level, appealing to every aspect of life. And I do mean every.

 

Have you ever visited FB’s various policy and information pages? They’re very enlightening. Right from the beginning they tell us (and we ignore the connotation): “We are building Facebook to make the world more open and transparent. …” (www.facebook.com/principles.php)

“The world” – as in governments and enforcement agencies that are supposed to protect us, yes; but the world, as in each individual, should NOT be transparent to the point of vulnerability to the mass villains!

Another fun page to visit is their assertions and disclaimers regarding other websites and applications: “FacebookPlatform (or simply Platform) refers to the way we help you share your information with the games, applications, and websites you and your friends use. … Remember that these games, applications and websites are created and maintained by other businesses and developers who are not part of Facebook, so you should always make sure to read their terms of service and privacy policies.” (Italics are mine.)

Do you have time for that? I don’t.

And so we trust Facebook to do right by us and not partner with companies who mean us harm. Ha.

The problem is we (and I use that term lightly) have allowed (again lightly) Facebook and its partners to strip away our privacy until virtually none exists. I don’t sign on to FB to look for impulse purchases – example from their cookie policy page explaining use: “features and relevant ads and content” – can you get any more ambiguous?

The only excuse I can fathom for the lack of privacy predicament in which we are now enmeshed is stupidity – however, we all know that legally, ignorance is no excuse.

Facebook has increasingly whittled away at our dignity by essentially dangling shiny objects in front of babies. We grasp the objects, uncaring of consequences – more importantly, largely unaware of them. Babies are not adults with the knowledge that accompanies the term; nor are most of us techies, to know what lurks behind the pretty bauble.

Originally created as a “community” that is open to the public, Facebook emerged as innovative, interesting, fun, kitschy, democratic, and ostensibly “for the people.” (Sound familiar? Like a government we know?)

In reality, it’s the ol’ bait-and-switch advertising ploy. Now that we’re hooked they’ll do whatever they damn well please. And I love the bit about the ability to vote on policy changes (I’m sure they look with envy on the convoluted Electoral College).

FB leaders obviously hate that they allowed our input from the beginning and don’t know how to get out of it. Now they’re strong-arming us by setting an improbable required deadline to vote – in order to keep our right to vote! How convenient for them.

This writing was prompted by an article that greeted my sleep-deprived eyes this morning, appearing through the haze of my coffee steam:

Facebook's privacy vote - what the email actually means

By Rob Waugh | Yahoo! News – 3 hrs ago (4:00A/PT, 12/07/12)

“Unless 300 million people (a third of Facebook’s users) vote ‘against’ by Monday, the networking giant will no longer allow users to vote on policy changes.

The wording of the vote itself is not a simple 'Yes' or 'No' – to vote against, users have to select, ‘Existing Documents: The current SRR and Data Use Policy,’ as opposed to ‘Proposed Documents: The proposed SRR and Data Use Policy.’ The voting page is here.” (Italics are mine.)

Click on the "Site Governance Vote" under their logo in the header; the next page, click on the "Vote" tab at top/left.

The article quotes leading privacy activist, Rainey Reitman, “The voting system currently in place doesn't work; it is simply impossible to get 30% of the users (300 million individuals) to vote on anything on Facebook within 30 days. The overwhelming majority of users participating in the vote right now are voting against removing the voting system." (Full article, here.)

Since joining (2009), I have never been one who takes a cutesy, fun, or gross picture with my phone and shoots it up to FB. I don’t tell you what I had for lunch or where. I don’t even post my grandkids’ pictures. Aren’t I proud of them? Of course. Am I a horrible grandma? No. I simply like my privacy and respect others’.

It was a couple of years before my family discovered I was there – and my close family and I still are not “friends.” We prefer to phone, text, or – gasp – actually visit each other in an environment where we can hug, have a meal together, watch TV – in the same room!

I know that sounds archaic and not everyone has that luxury. For that I am blessed. But private Skype conversations and the good ol’ telephone call with distant loved ones, are more my style. And yes, I’m thrilled that I’m a Boomer and won’t live to see what the Internet and the Facebooks of the world have in store for you young’uns, by the time you’re my age.

I don’t know if we can stop the travesty that has overtaken our country. Do you realize that by connecting our lives through Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, our websites, our blogs, our underwear – just checking to see if you’re still reading – we are making ourselves vulnerable in SO many ways?

We no longer have ANY privacy. Who started it?

How did we allow this to happen? It’s difficult to know.

Do you realize it extends to a necessary key feature of Obamacare? A recent article brought attention to the vulnerabilities of the new health care system that requires medical and health care industries to implement digital files on all patients. But many facilities do not utilize truly secure programs, leaving our health issues and other personal information exposed to hackers and scammers.

Since the Internet began we have been losing our privacy, one byte at a time. It’s like cancer … you often don’t know you’re sick until it’s too late. Guess what … I believe it’s too late.

That won’t stop me from casting my vote on Facebook’s policies today; but like the last presidential election, I no longer feel “every vote counts.” In no way, shape or form, do we live a democratic life on the pre-Internet level. It makes me sad. (And more reverent of GeorgeOrwell; NineteenEighty-Four; prophetically published in 1949.)

Facebook didn’t invent the destructive systems attacking our privacy, but they’re certainly exploiting them; and to a larger extent than its predecessors and cohorts. It has set the bar for other companies and programs to create baubles they know we won’t resist.

Too bad this shiny toy is an ominous Trojan Horse.

Vote against loss of privacy – votefor “Existing Documents” on Facebook today.

Cheers to privacy!