Why Not Use Facebook?
Blog and Journal Thoughts and Politics
I got asked today why don't I stay on Facebook?
Well, I have no use for Facebook other then to find friends. Facebook is an over regulated information sponge which has turned into the place for people to show off how amazing their lives are, and also to spout opinions and arguments about meaningless events. Most of these people tend not to do anything about these events that they post about. They change their icon and think that somehow this will incite some sort of change in the world.
Facebook utilizes Flash which is linked to Omniture, and it is basically a huge data recording center which tracks your every move. It is controlled by the mormons and they will sell your information to anyone. Google is similar in this regard. Your Facebook likes and posts and even photos are analyzed to determine how to advertize to you and make money off of you. People freely give this information which makes these corporations a shit ton of money. Facebook is a intentionally designed time sink. People waste their lives here playing silly games that often intice you to spend money on them. They share and plan events that help record your life, and post photos documenting who you are and where you have been and who you have been with.
People record their whole lives on here, and sometimes - often enough get in trouble for doing so. Even if what they wrote was in jest. Not to mention the NSA... but while the majority of Americans are concerned about that, the things they should be concerned about go much deeper.
Facebook stores your photos and scans them for facial recognition. That system is rumored to be linked to the NSA and FBI systems to look for criminals and also keep track of peoples whereabouts. Being able to be tagged in photos links that face to you, and therefore even if you use a different name and profile picture, you will eventually be linked to your face.
Now most people seem to say something along the lines of, "Well, if I haven't done anything wrong, it isn't a big deal." And some would even go further by suggesting that they are glad that such a system exists to catch the criminals.
The problem here is context. EVERYTHING is being recorded and stored in a database. If you ever get into a court case for even something unrelated to anything that happened on Facebook - lets say you get into a car accident with another person who is of a different culture then you are. Discovery can be made during that case to look into your history and dig up your archive of stored messages on Facebook. If you ever, even jokingly made reference to that person culture, or the type of car he was driving, or anything obscure which could be taken out of context and used against you, it can and will be taken out of context and used to prove that you have a history of hate against so and so. There is past president for this, and it will continue to happen.
These archives of data are dangerous to you. Even if you have done nothing wrong... If you ever do something wrong, even by accident they can be used against you to make you look like a very guilty person. They can also be used against you to accuse you of something you didn't do and are completely innocent of. Therefore any obscure comment can be taken out of content in the future, if you ever run into any legal problems, and brought to light to sway a jurry in any manner.
I prefer to run my own website, host my own photo archive, and maintain communications through my own servers whenever possible. This way I ensure that I am in control of my own database. I can delete it at any time, and am fully responsible for what is said on it. I know where the information can go and I choose what information I make public.
I believe that people would be better off to build their own websites, and explore the free non-corporate driven internet more often. Break free of those chains and demand independence. Stop being whores.