Mining Facebook for the dirt on you
So you were tagged in that photo from the wild party you attended six years ago. Don't be surprised if you can't get to first base with prospective employers now. And even getting the picture taken down probably won't help, because there are going to be archives.
| Posted at 10:45 AM | Permalink |
|
Comments (11)
That's whay my Facebook has the bare minimum on it (plus some misleading info).
I am amazed on the smarter younger people who put all kinds of pictures and info like they like Diet Coke (or whatever). I was hoping they'd realize what marketing types would pay for this type of info.
Don't forget, once your info is in the cloud it never vanishes.
Posted by Steve | June 21, 2011 11:14 AM
I keep telling my kids not to put anything on there they might be worried about later.
I deactivated my Facebook account because of this though.
Posted by Jon | June 21, 2011 11:42 AM
If you have an uncommon name, then create an FB identity (mine is my pen name which is not rare like my legal name). Still discretion on somethings is wise.
Posted by LucsAdvo | June 21, 2011 12:42 PM
Never used myspace. Facebook - rare. Personal data: none. As Steve noted, I'm amazed at the "smart" kids who use it all the time.
Posted by Max | June 21, 2011 3:17 PM
You know, those televisions emit waves that ruin your eyes and melt your brains. It's just Madison Avenue taking over your mind. And you'd have to be crazy to get me up in one of those airplanes. Man wasn't meant to fly. I tell you, technology today is going to be the end of us. The kids these days, they just don't understand.
Posted by Mark | June 21, 2011 3:58 PM
I think many of those in the under-30 bracket have a very different sense of privacy than those in the over-40 bracket. (We 30-somethings are transitional -- kind of have a foot on each side.) These kids have grown up with security cameras on every corner, with tracking cookies and software on every computer, and with popular tv shows (like 24) that (unrealistically) assume that the government can pretty much track everything you do and everywhere you go. I think there's a sense of fatalism -- if someone wants to find dirt on me, they can. So why stress about it?
Posted by Miles | June 21, 2011 4:06 PM
"The kids these days, they just don't understand."
Re-read 1984. Big Brother had two way TVs in every room. Technology, like any tool, can be abused. (Dare you to subscribe and read Sam's tweets.)
Besides, why would I want to give up info like that for free?
Posted by Steve | June 21, 2011 4:08 PM
Yes, Steve, please refute my sarcasm about old people being paranoid by advising me to read a book written in 1948 about a horrific version of "the future" that came and went almost 30 years ago AND NEVER CAME TRUE! You're just making my point for me.
And thank you Miles for making my point calmly and directly.
Posted by Mark | June 21, 2011 4:46 PM
"please refute my sarcasm about old people being paranoid by advising me to read a book written in 1948"
If you wish to ignore history, fine.
We can start with today. Why do you think people are putting such a high value on Facebook which has no income? It is because of the personal info everyone is putting on the site.
I mean did you look at employers using Facebook for background checks?
"assume that the government can pretty much track everything you do and everywhere you go"
That has to be the weakest argument in favor I've ever heard. So if someone is raised in a brutal regime and that's all they've known, then that makes it OK? If someone who lived under relatively greater freedom objects they are paranoid?
If you are going to make snarky comments at least make them logical and less oblique.
Try to remember technology is just a tool and not the content.
Posted by Steve | June 21, 2011 6:22 PM
"I am not a blogger! I am a free man!"
Posted by Texas Triffid Ranch | June 22, 2011 7:04 AM
And twitter posts can be searched.
Posted by Julie | June 22, 2011 11:11 AM