Unquiet Desperation

Marshall Kirkpatrick of ReadWriteWeb is calling bullshit on Facebook-founder Mark Zuckerberg’s recent comments about privacy. Zuckerburg says:

A lot of companies would be trapped by the conventions and their legacies of what they’ve built, doing a privacy change – doing a privacy change for 350 million users is not the kind of thing that a lot of companies would do. But we viewed that as a really important thing, to always keep a beginner’s mind and what would we do if we were starting the company now and we decided that these would be the social norms now and we just went for it.

Kirkpatrick’s response is spot on:

This is a radical change from the way that Zuckerberg pounded on the importance of user privacy for years. That your information would only be visible to the people you accept as friends was fundamental to the DNA of the social network that hundreds of millions of people have joined over these past few years. Privacy control, he told me less than 2 years ago, is “the vector around which Facebook operates.”

I don’t buy Zuckerberg’s argument that Facebook is now only reflecting the changes that society is undergoing. I think Facebook itself is a major agent of social change and by acting otherwise Zuckerberg is being arrogant and condescending.

Why is Facebook changing their tune?  Money, baby. Money. At first, it might have been helping people stay in contact. Now, however, with 350 million people giving their personal information to the system, Facebook stands to gain…if they can convince everyone who uses their service that they do not need privacy anymore. Kirkpatrick continues:

First the company kept user data siloed inside its site alone, saying that a high degree of user privacy would make users comfortable enough to share more information with a smaller number of trusted people.

Now that it has 350 million people signed up and connected to their friends and family in a way they never have been before – now Facebook decides that the initial, privacy-centric, contract with users is out of date. That users actually want to share openly, with the world at large, and incidentally (as Facebook’s Director of Public Policy Barry Schnitt told us in December) that it’s time for increased pageviews and advertising revenue, too….

…Facebook allows everyday people to share the minutia of their daily lives with trusted friends and family, to easily distribute photos and videos – if you use it regularly you know how it has made a very real impact on families and social groups that used to communicate very infrequently. Accessible social networking technology changes communication between people in a way similar to if not as intensely as the introduction of the telephone and the printing press. It changes the fabric of peoples’ lives together. 350 million people signed up for Facebook under the belief their information could be shared just between trusted friends. Now the company says that’s old news, that people are changing. I don’t believe it.

I think Facebook is just saying that because that’s what it wants to be true.

Just because a service is free to you does not mean you have to give it everything you are. They are trying to make millions off of your personal information. Better, they didn’t have to pay you one red cent for it.

Is that right? Is that fair and honest? Is that in your best interest?

This week at game night, I was discussing the December Info Detox with Kris. While we were prepping for our Savage Worlds campaign, I made a mental list of things that I wanted to do while I was going dark for December. Here’s the complete list:

1. Clear out who I am following on Twitter, Facebook, Skype, AIM, etc. Some folks I’ve not spoken to in ages and some I don’t even know.
2. Clear out my del.icio.us account, and my local bookmarks as well. Time to get things organized.
3. Clean up my hard drive. Archive this year’s old podcast files and other media.
4. Clear out my podcast list. There are only about six podcasts I listen to regularly and that need to be downloaded. Everything else can be moved to my Google Reader, to be heard when I feel like it, rather than taking up space on my hard drive.
5. Clean up my RSS feeds.
6. Find specific times for writing and for working out. Next year is going to be more about these two things than about writing code.
7. Clean up my office (again), including those bookshelves. Need to move the books I’ve finished to the basement and make room for the 40+ books I have yet to read.
8. TEASER: Prepare for a new podcast from yours truly and the witty Mr. Johnson. Should go live in late January.

Most importantly, I’m going to unplug, spend time with the family, and clear my head for the new year. It’s so easy to get swept up in the things that happen on and around the Intarwebs that we forget that we are more than just digitally social beings. We need the analog facetime with others just as much.  I’d encourage everyone to take a little time away from email, twitter, and such this winter (or summer, if you’re Down Under) and reconnect with those around you, your neighborhood, your community.

In case I do not get a chance to blog, I want to wish everyone Happy Holiday-of-Your-Choice, a Happy New Year, and a safe holiday season.  I’ll see you all in January.

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