Facebook - you know the one, the "social networking" website. Why? Because I received the critical mass of 3 invites so now I can avoid the whole social stigma of "no mates". This is important to me because of my slacker attitude to updating these types of things. Just need to look at this blog to know how sporadic I am when it comes to technology.
So I signed up to facebook because of my mate KC from uni "poked" me - yeah, not going into the whole connotations associated with that am I...? So lets follow some potential difficult decisions scenarios
- Embarrassing photos of me appear that haven't gone through the strict censorship process that I apply anywhere (I've already noticed this has happened to me)
- I don't have as many friends as other people
- Even more important, I don't have enough good looking friends (okay so its not going to happen with my friends, but it could happen)
- Where do I post photos ... my blog... facebook... my travel blog... another photo site...?
- People who are friends of mine log on to a friends profile, see me as a friend of a friend and therefore instantly feel aggrieved that I haven't invited them to become my friend.
- An ex girlfriend finds me thru a common friend and asks to become my friend ... okay so the majority of my ex's aren't crazy but...
- More importantly, a crazy friend of an ex girlfriend writes crazy stuff on the wall of an ex's facebook about me...
Okay, it's important to remember that this is all "made up" situations...
On a different note. K and I now have Google diaries, hence putting more power into Goggles hands. People talk about Microsoft and censorship, but Google (bless their good natured hearts) have admitted to saving all your search histories (including embarrassing medical conditions, porn, sects, political party's, religions ...), all your blog entries, probably credit card details ... and will actively use this to build a profile to better aid your "web searching". Is this scary?
So now all my holidays and stuff are on my Google diary. They now know when I'm on holiday, where exactly I'll be and what I'll be doing (not even my closest friends or family know this). Not that this bothers me because I'm not paranoid (still doesn't mean they're not after me), because it has helped dramatically in letting us organise our personal lives. This is important because by this weekend it'll be close to two weeks since we saw each other and we need to know what each other has on to determine the best time to spend that fleeting three minutes a week together.
Back to the real point of this blog, what I think my real problem is is this.
There are so many technologies and websites out there and I have no idea what I belong to, where my details are, what has been written about me, or anything. For example, I know I belong to WAYN, couch surfing, Facebook, Travelpod, blogger, my camera apparently has a website, I recall signing up to various other websites, and at least one of my ex's signed me up to a million others. I have several loyalty scheme, frequent flier clubs, ticket sale places, online shops... I don't even know what websites hold my credit card number, I've bought at so many places.
Yeah, I have a folder in my hotmail account that "manages" this, but even then, I think I need a web management policy. After my credit card and cash card were cloned last month (3 days apart) I have become even more paranoid than before, because I know that I never use them in the same place EVER to avoid such incidences! So when are they ever together... my wallet and my flat - they're not even from the same bank. Have I missed something or is it just a coincidence?
When I write a blog, or sign up to a website like Facebook - where do my details really go? How at risk of bad things happening am I? More importantly, what are those bad things that can happen?
