Privacy : Why do I care ?

Facebook changes are 'not enough,' say groups

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) says that "more is needed" from Facebook to address privacy criticisms.

In a blog post, the civil liberties group praised Facebook for a "great first step" towards giving members of the site more control over their data.

However, it warned members against choosing the site's recommended privacy control setting.


So. Why do I care about privacy ? Why am I running a blog under an anonymous name instead of my real name ? Why the hassel ?

The truth is , I didn't care about privacy. No one cared.

Until I went to work one day , and my employer asked me if I played guitar, if I was in a band. Yes I played guitar , no I'm not in a band or thinking of starting one , why do you ask ?

He did a search on google. Some guy with the same name as me was starting a rock and roll band and he was worried I was going to leave him.

I went to a job interview at a personel agency. They asked for my Facebook page. I said I didn't have one. They demanded it , insisted, threatenned not to hire me if they found out I was lying to them.

And by the way , why don't you have a facebook page ?

It's too big a violation of my privacy. I'll get spammed by half the world. And can I have my resume back ? I don't want to work for you.

I used to post on the old usernet news groups. You always had to be careful not to leave an email address, because automatic programs sifted through all the usergroups looking for anything that even looked like an email address and put you on a mailing list to try and sell you viagra and gawd only knows what else.

I got drunk one time, and I stumbled across the email address of Sadam Hussain (dictator of Iraq at the time, he's been deposed by the americans since then). Did I send him hate mail ? No , I signed him up for every homosexual porn site I could find.

Why do I care about privacy ?

I didn't, until a hotmail email address got spammed out of existance. And hten hotmail actually shut it down because there was too much traffic but for 30$ / month they'd be happy to reactivate it.

I didn't, until people started calling my cell phone , from the USA , to sell me junk. On my dime.

I didn't, until a job interview gone wrong where they demanded my facebook page so they could check up on me.


I didn't , until I started looking for a job, and whenever I answered the phone, it wasn't for a job interview, it was a telemarketer trying to sell me stuff, and they had my name.

Now, I care.