Your Mom and I went to see the movie “Social Network” about the life of Mark Zuckerberg (all 23 years) and his role in the creation of Facebook. He is becoming a computer cult hero. He will obviously be rich beyond even his wildest dreams. He behaves somewhat like an autistic. He has a distant look in his eyes when he is interviewed.
Facebook is a warm “fuzzy”. You can vent your feelings to your friends. You can post pictures until your heart’s content. You can network with an unlimited number of people who have similar likes. You can express your preferences for everything from eating habits to kinky sex. It is addicting.
On the negative side, facebook encourages you to post a lot of personal information. It seems very innocuous (harmless). You include (for the world to see), your picture, your name, where you live, details about your family and preferences about life. There you are in all your glory. You are a member of Facebook.
You don’t know what is real or not real. Everything posted by people about themselves is not necessarily true.
You are theoretically protected by the Facebook pledges to keep your information confidential. There have been many reported breaches that Facebook claims it fixed. Hey, Zuckerberg in the movie Social Network, hacked into lots of data bases with ease. Don’t assume you are protected.
There are people in business that have factored your profile and interests into a marketing strategy and targeted you for their services and products. You can become inundated with solicitations for everything from credit cards to automobiles. Do you really need that in your life?
Police departments from all over the country (including foreign countries) can access information about you. You are part of the Iranian facebook connection.
The government can use your personal data to watch you. I can’t even comprehend the potential ways “Big Brother” uses Facebook.
Debt collectors find Facebook data very useful.
Crooks can check you personal information and target you for theft.
Don’t get me wrong, there is a warm social benefit to being connected to your friends and loved ones. It is just important to realize what you are dealing with. Facebook is not a private. It is not secure. You don’t know how your personal information is being used.
My conclusion is that I’m not sure that even Zuckerberg can comprehend the monster he has unleashed.
So be smart with how you use Facebook. If the local police department calls you because you look like a suspect in a fraud case (from a picture you posted), don’t call me to bail you out. Call Facebook.
Love,
Dad