Google+paranoid.... not really...

Ok...so I know it's easy to seem a bit paranoid but there is more than sufficient reason to worry about Facebook and Google+...

A recent article reveals that social media are regularly used by law enforcement to target individuals in the name of homeland security and emergency relief details here.


...and recently installed face recognition software on Facebook (where if I remember right I was asked if I would include permission to apply this ability to photos of friends) will eventually lead to anyone being able to access a whole load of personal information, including your social security number from a simple photo of you taken in the street... details here..


This leads to a heightened ability to steal identities (not to mention stalkers) again, details here.

Now... it is totally stupid to say, as some have recently, 'I have nothing to hide'... duh!! .. your address? credit rating? your bank account? whether you live alone or not? details of you health? past relationships? where you buy your underwear? .... there is a limit as to how much information any of us want available online.

This is not a scare story, this is today, now. As Google+ insist on real names now, the time will come when real photos will be insisted on too... because? Because the information is worth money.

Forget advertising revenue... that may pale in comparison as Google+ may have, as it's main income source, the law enforcement agencies..... maybe not today, but soon.

:((

Seeking a Free Internet.

I spoke to a woman today whose mother was ill but had ‘kept it’ from her children. I was a bit shocked at this level of ‘protective behaviour’ but got to thinking of how censored my life is/has been.

At school the information I was given was heavily censored as was the ‘news’ I got in later life from the TV and newspapers. I realised early on that anything important....I would be the last to know.

I can seek to ‘self censor’ a little less than I do, but, society demands a degree if one is not to be totally marginalised.

So, while I would of course love to turn the warplanes into butterflies above my nation, I know that the world is not a just or fair place. In fact, I have read, “in an unjust world, the only place for a just man is in jail” ... though jail society is hardly structured around justice and freedom, I would guess.

I have tried, where possible, without extreme inconvenience, to act in accordance with my beliefs but I still pay tax money to a Government that bombs innocents and buy products from corporations that pollute, corrupt and oppress. I have to live with that and get on with my life. The only thing worse than a bad conscience is a clean conscience.

The recent drive by FB and Google to get real names linked to accounts has had me puzzled for a while now. As an example... a friend I know has zero digital footprint. Google them and a name from 1812 is the only reference .... another has a name so common there are 57 million references on Google.

The name is not the issue I think. What is of interest, however, I believe is the FACE. With current face recognition software it is possible to compile a database of everyone. Granted that might take a few years, but, with FB and Google pics there must already be hundreds of thousands of people, maybe millions, who could be recognised at airports, city centres and ‘sensitive sites’. Big Brother, as I alluded to recently. ... and the photo links to the driver’s license, address, age...etc... quite a salable commodity.

The idea that government is going to allow it’s citizens the freedom to wander the Web with little or no control, accessing information that they wish to keep to themselves, does not take into account the paranoid nature of the Elite who hold power.

The Elite fear the Mob on the one hand and the Powerful Individual on the other. This is the basis of the politics of power.

Those still innocent enough to believe in the ballot box may believe we can vote to exercise our democratic freedom. Those of us a little more worldly-wise know that politicians are owned. How quaint it was of someone to say, after Obama had been elected, that Only In America could Anyone become president..... the truth being, of course, Anyone With $64,000,000 To Spend On Their Campaign could become president. That was not his money, that is a debt he now has.

So, what freedom I do have is purely in my wallet. I can, in a limited way, vote with my cash. I can spend my time where I choose. I can close my FB account. That freedom I do have.

... but a free Internet? ... yes, I do support the idea, it would be wonderful.

... but I am a little too cynical to believe it will happen in my lifetime.

On the other hand, I do believe that resistance is not futile...

:))

Social Media culled by soror Nishi

Just deleted my Google+ account...
The real reason is just that I find it all quite boring...

Don't get me wrong, information is a valuable and fascinating thing, but streamed 24/7 through my computer it's a bit like surfing the internet without search. In fact, I feel like I'm being surfed.

Hundreds of pieces of data which other people seem to think is important flow like a river through my account. Why would I want to take time out to sift through it?

After a week or so I have 58 acquaintances .. so after 52 weeks that would be...over 3000 people dumping data on me.

Why would I want to meet friends on FaceGoo who I could meet in SL or Iwz? It doesn't really make any sense to me. If I can spend 15 minutes with someone in VWs why would I want to FaceGoo them? I don't really have people I don't meet either in RL or VWs, I've never been one to keep a constant contact with people I don't see...I sort of figure 'well, we'll catch up next time we meet'.

Then there's this thing about real names... I really hate real names of avatars, I mean, I don't know who any of them are! I get to know someone in SL, then they try to friend me on FaceGoo with their real names, like I should recognise them...duh!! I don't know anyone's real name...it's just an Avatar Alias (and, if I am told it, I forget it instantly). Why would anyone want a real name?

Twitter I find quite useful, like a message board, I can say hi or goodnight if friends are roaming free on the Interweb and they know my location ...useful.

Avatars United ... well, it's dead before it starts I would guess, I mean who would spend time on something that died already once? It was terminated by the Boys when they couldn't be bothered to keep it going..... and they aren't exactly know for their competence re. social structures. I could be proved wrong...we will see.

So, I must say it's a bit of a relief, one less thing I have to do daily, and one less thing for my mailbox... good.

Sorry, but it's just not for me, I have more important things to do and counting my ears is more interesting.

:))

FaceBook, too late to be useful...

I have always been too proud to beg. I guess it's just the way I was bought up. I never really expected anyone to bail me out, I thought you had to stand on your own two feet and make your own way in the world. So it's a scale 9 on the Cringometer to see the Boys begging to be liked on FailBook, I almost feel sorry for them...ermm...no, I don't.

About 3 years ago (maybe... bad memory) I saw FaceBook being advertised in some corners of SL. Small groups had started to use it and connect that way, and, if they had been receptive, the Boys could have jumped in with both feet and established a real following then.... I think they are too late now.

As it is, we live in a risk averse society, that is to say most of the medium and smaller businesses that make up the bulk of the economy are risk averse. Major players, and minor players can afford to take more of a gamble with things like joining FB. By the time that Everyone, including Marmite, the Conservative Party and Linden Lab have a FB page, you know it has become mainstream and is on it's way out. The end is nigh. I don't mean by that that it is gonna quit or stop working, I just mean that the initial buzz has gone and people, some people, will start using a newer, fresher way of communicating, like Twitter, for example.

FB reminds me of the time when suddenly everyone (company) thought they had to have a website... they got a website.... nothing happened.... they tried to get traffic.... nothing much happened... The penny hadn't dropped that this is a new medium and needs new skills.

Companies have to get board approval, write a report, ask a focus group etc before they can act. You or I don't, we do what we like. Few companies have their ear to the ground, most have them plugged with last years ideas....so...you're on FaceBook...so what?? Everyone above the age of 8, and most pets are.....so what??

@rodvik Doesn't Follow Me on Twitter (Maybe He Should) from Botgirl Questi on Vimeo.

Now, it may be a couple of years before the Boys realise that FaceBook is last years idea. What we want now is Personalities.

....so... Rodviks recent Twittering is a great step forward, I think. He does follow some of the people I follow (like Wizzy), and over a thousand people follow him, its an open democratic communication possibility.... it's Fast, Easy, Fun....oh...sorry, that was last year....

Now, the need for FailBook to inform people of whats cool in SL is due in no small way to the fact that they haven't got their own platform to work, so they need to use someone else's.... but it's soo 2D...it'll never last... it reminds me of Friends Reunited.. (which died too).

Search and Chat would be great ... forums and your gold stars I have never personally seen the point of, I mean, if Chat only worked....

The SL Blog has always been the least amusing blog I ever read, and blogging is one of those media that is never going to die., It's here, forever.... how, or if you use it well, tho, is a different matter...

.....so, with all these things not working, and their terrible attempt at a sort of newsletter failing to even get read (by me at least)... well, maybe FB is the best they can do at the moment. It just seems to me that with all their money and influence they could employ people to do some PR... write a blog? something entertaining? Their blog reads like a company report...yawn factor 9..... don't they read blogging advice, ever?

There are talented and amusing writers out there.... even if you have to steal them from TV or the NYT.... as the rodent says..."simple!"

....and as all this leaves me wanting to be amused.... here's a little thing that might make you smile....





Come on Boys, how difficult can it be?


Simple!


:)))