Keeping Secrets on the Internet (of All Places)

http://www.albumoftheday.com/facebook/

Please watch the video above before reading.


According to the narrator in the video, "What happens on Facebook [should stay] on Facebook." By this, I'm guessing she means that the information that people voluntarily upload onto the internet should not be available for free access by strangers who use the free service. The video claims that many people around the world access information found in Facebook profiles. Such people include people who happen to earn a living working at certain corporations, and people who happen to work in the United States Government. The narrator proposes that information on Facebook profiles be contained, so that none of these people can use such information to carry out their jobs.

The proposal is pretty amusing. There is absolutely no accessible data on Facebook that was not intentionally uploaded by the user in the first place. Even if researchers in the government ever found Facebook to be a reliable source of true-to-life, useful data (unlikely), they probably already have more accurate ways of finding out where you go to school, your adress, your phone number, etc. Complaining about millions of people on the Internet looking at information that you posted yourself is sort of like pulling your pants down in front of a crowd and complaining that people are staring at you.

I'll look past the ridiculous belief that those accessing the massive public network of computers called the Internet should be forced to stop peeking. More interesting (tragic) is how the video jumps on the modern mythological bandwagon called, "Fuck the System." By specifically mentioning people who work for the government or certain large corporations, the video appeals to the modern youth's tendency to desperately look for something to rebel against. As people who work for corporations naturally earn money for their work, they are deemed evil and targeted as authoritarians who strangle youthful freedom. Note that no law-abiding Facebook user would ever be hurt by the government looking at their profile page, or hurt by said corporations earning money. Facebook users continue to be offered an entirely free internet service, with which they can voluntarily share information if they choose to do so. Despite this, many (like the video's creator) decide to complain anyway, because if someone working for the government is doing internet research, he or she must be up to no good.

This is all made possible by popular mythology, and a culture of youth who take services for granted. Instead of utilizing and appreciating the efforts of one particularly successful college student, millions of Facebook users have enthusiastically complained about everything possible. The Mini-Feed was often claimed to be too revealing (addictive), although people knew that they could stop posting information at any time. Advertisements on Facebook were accused of being tools of evil corporations trying to earn profit (of all things) off of consumers. By now, it is easy and popular to complain about "The System" and its influence on the Internet. It is easy and popular to look up at "The Man" and yell at him, while amusing yourself with embarassing pictures that a friend recently posted.

The modern America is a land of complaints and petitions, of lawsuits and pride. The mythological image of standing up defiantly in front of corporate and authoritarian giants will not disappear anytime soon.