Facebook Privacy: Why it Doesn't Matter Much to Me

Recently, there has been a lot of negative attention focused on Facebook's changing privacy policies.

Upon learning that things on my profile might become less private, I hurried to check my privacy settings. Almost everything on my wall can be seen by friends only. It was really easy to do. I clicked about 3 buttons/links to change my settings.

I scratched my head, wondering why people are so freaked out by changes that are easily addressed and tweaked. Seriously, people, this isn't rocket science.

But then I remember that I belong to the digital generations, the ones who grew up around computers. I doubt my mother would have been able to figure out her privacy settings so easily.

Still, I feel like nothing much has drastically changed for me regarding privacy. 

We all know the government listens in on our phone conversations. They minister basically everything digital we day and do. This isn't old news. So I'm not sure why the idea of face-recognition and privacy changes are such a big deal to people.

Our privacy has already been compromised. As long as I'm not posting pictures that make sure I don't get hired (and I don't) then I should be fine. There's nothing on my Facebook wall I don't mind the public seeing. Everything else is hidden. 

Bellyachers need to understand how to use the tools at their disposal, or not use them at all. We gave up privacy a long time ago, with the advent of the Web, but we can still manage what the public sees.

An Article on the Future of the Web

I was looking at the New York Times website, where they have an interesting and handy section dedicated to "Technology." I found this article there.
Apparently, the Web is turning 25 tomorrow (Wednesday, 3/12/14)!
The creators, naturally, have a lot to say about their hopes and fears for the Web.
What I found highly interesting is that Mr. Berners-Lee, and the other creators, "worry that companies and telecommunications outlets could destroy the open nature that made it flourish in their quest to make more money" (NY Times).
This just shores up my idea that huge mega-companies (and there's only 6 mega-ones in the world, as we learned in class) will exploit the web for purely capitalist reasons. I mean, that's what corporations do, isn't it? Make money?
Reading the article further, it becomes clear that there is good news. Nobody panic. The Web is currently where "every minute, billions of connected people send each other hundreds of millions of messages, share 20 million photos and exchange at least $15 million in goods and services" (NY Times). So the Web doesn't completely belong to Disney and Nestle and other companies.
Does that mean sites like Facebook and YouTube haven't succumbed to adverting and other clear indicators of the dollar sign? Absolutely not! There are ads you must watch before you can view most YouTube videos, these days.

Mr. Bernes-Lee (writer of the first web page editor and web browser) has a warning for us web users. He warns us that there is a current battle around "network neutrality," which is essentially the idea that Web content should flow freely through the internet regardless of creator/origin.

Obviously, big companies like Apple will want to use the Web to do what they do best ($$$$$), which will turn the internet into anything but a neutral medium.

"The openness of the web is really, really important," say Mr. Bernes-Lee, and I tend to agree with him. “It’s important for the open markets, for the economy and for democracy" (NY Times).

This seems to be a bigger issue than I thought. If "large telecommunications companies took control of the web," the repercussions for web-users could be astounding. Mr. Barnes-Lee and others worried about the future of the net will attempt to spread awareness of this issue in the near-future.

Already, we just have to look around to see how the 6 huge corporations are infiltrating our lives, whether it be through ad campaigns or the prolific use of products they sell. I, for one, do not want the Web to lose any of its dwindling neutrality. As a lowly American citizen with no hopes (really) of ever becoming CEO of a mega-corporation, the commercialization of the Web is a scary thought. Control the Web, and these companies will have access to over 87% of the American adult population.

It all rather sounds like a plot from a scifi novel. The web has been invented, now we must wait for it to gain users as a neutral medium before swooping in and making it ours!! Muhahahaha!!

No thank you.