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First off, the silence on this end can be explained by the fact that the computer I do most of my work on crashed on Wednesday. Done for. Vanquished. Slaughtered. So, I was liberated from the machine for a couple of days. Except for the stress of knowing that data and such had to be retrieved, I had a peachy time ignoring the existence of the web for a day or two. Sometimes I do think I could be a hermit. Of course, every several hours I would sit down at the desk and put my hand to the mouse before the dead screen recalled me to my computerless situation. And the dead screen gave me a thrill of joy every time. It was swell while it lasted but now I’ve been recaptured by this technological age of (scoff, sneer, snicker) “progress.” Anyhow, I am truly sorry if I have missed any comments or questions from my lovely readers.
Now, this is fascinating stuff. Here is a representation by Matt McKeon showing how much of your Facebook information is public if you use the default settings, as of April 2010 (Click to enlarge):
Somebody’s getting greedy. The neat thing is that Mr. McKeon (a Facebooker himself; he actually likes the thing) has also made graphs showing how much of your information was public (according to default) in 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2009. Start with the first year and watch Facebook grab more and more privacy away from its unsuspecting followers.
Mr. McKeon is frank about the fact that he is still in the process of revising his chart and keeping it up-to-date. He is certainly not biased against Facebook and appears to have done a fine job of fairly interpreting the data. In fact, he sounds like a nice fellow; I wish he would quit Facebook. Yet he does not seem to have any such plans. Still, he admits:
“Over the past couple of years, the default privacy settings for a Facebook user’s personal information have become more and more permissive. They’ve also changed how your personal information is classified several times, sometimes in a manner that has been confusing for their users. This has largely been part of Facebook’s effort to correlate, publish, and monetize their social graph: a massive database of entities and links that covers everything from where you live to the movies you like and the people you trust.”
Mr. McKean thinks the remedy to this distressing problem is just to be aware and change the default privacy settings. Not to bust his cheerfulness bubble, but a rather interesting Daily Finance article I read yesterday morning points out that Facebook, along with MySpace, has sent data “to online ad giants that could be used to identify a user’s name, age, hometown, and occupation regardless of their privacy settings.” (My emphasis added.)
Okay, here are some other items worthy of note:
1) The time was ripe so Sam Gustin of Daily Finance gave Mark Zuckerberg a friendly warning earlier this month: “Mark my words, Mark,” spoke Sam. ”You continue down this path, and you’ll destroy the company. Things can change very quickly on the internet and you’d better get your hubris in check before you face the same fate as Xerxes.” Nice one, Mr. Gustin!
2) You really should read “those pathetic youngsters” which Alan Jacobs posted in April. Brief but telling.
3) In case you were wondering, I really am going to get back to work on those other 99 Household Items With More Value than Facebook. Soon.
Well, congrats if you made it to the end of my rambling. I was also going to mention the upcoming Quit Facebook Day you have probably heard about, but I’ll have to save that for later.
Signing off,
S. J. Buckner
Today a shiny new book came in the mail, entitled The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G.K.Chesterton. I certainly qualify as an enthusiast of quote-compilations, so I practically fell in love at first sight. Undeniably at first page, at least. My mom says I have to share it with everyone in the family, but don’t you think that sounds a tad bit Communistic? I’m a fan of private property myself. Anyway, be sure to act surprised if the book and I disappear for a while.
Here are some beauties from Chesterton, on those subjects dear to AFLI’s heart:
”Civilisation is not to be judged by the rapidity of communication, but by the value of what is communicated. ” (Isn’t this what I’m always saying? Having a technology does not mean it is a good technology, nor does it oblige us to use it.)
“People talking in twos talk gently, because they feel emphatically: people talking in tens or twenties talk emphatically because they do not care a dump about anything.” (Quantity versus quality is best in friendship. Facebook does not promote this. On the contrary, it generally breeds competition and concern as to how many “friends” one has.)
“And never before, I should imagine, in the intellectual history of the world have words been used with so idiotic an indifference to their actual meaning.” (Facebook thrives on people who bang and batter the English language to bits.)
And finally: ”There are a hundred means of communication, and there is nothing to communicate.” (Tis indeed the sad state of affairs.)
Well, here is another I just found. “What I lament is the importance of head-lines and the unimportance of headwork; the eagerness to state a man’s views, compared with the carelessness about whether his views are really stated, let along whether they are really sound.” (Probably couldn’t have said it better myself. Ha, ha.)
Hope you enjoyed these Chestertonian insights! I did!
