Today’s Reality: Does Privacy Exist? Is Facebook to Blame?

I read a really good article today from Peter Shankman 5 Reasons Why I’m Not Quitting Facebook . His words were similar to Ben Parr’s of Mashable a few days ago “In Defense of Facebook”

Both were absolutely right!

I agree that all this hype about Facebook and Privacy is being blown out of proportion. Zuckerberg’s antics and lack of response in dealing with the bombardment of criticisms are one thing. But I do believe that Facebook is being taunted and, I believe, made the scapegoat for an issue that that is NOT Facebook’s alone. It’s true that Facebook is irresponsible in their use and disclosure of people’s data. And Zuckerberg has been cited as once proclaiming that people who decide to put their personal lives online are losers (his words were much harsher). In reality what exists today is an increasingly non-private world. But apparently no one seems to want to admit that. Sharing has proliferated ten-fold from a decade ago –>  either in good faith or NOT. There are many examples of this.  The tools for sharing are the mainstay and reality of today’s world. The use of those tools… ie the responsible use of those tools should be bourne on the user not the provider.

I have a lot of friends who refuse to make their life public on Facebook and other social networks for fear of putting something out there that will come back to haunt them. They are of one extreme and they may be naive to think that as long as they don’t post, their information will remain private and intact. What they don’t seem to realize is that personal information can be found within minutes whether they like it or not.

I remember when direct mail and telemarketing grew this notion of Privacy and Permission, mitigating the commercial use of personal data and selling it for business opportunities if the user prohibited it. NOW, that notion has extended exponentially to users — friends and strangers alike.  You cannot control it. You cannot stop it. Your content is up there for the world to see so please beware, be informed, be responsible and don’t blame the site/platform for your own mistakes.