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FacebookIsDangerous 5 - 29 Feb 2012 - Main.SkylarPolansky
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Facebook is Dangerous
I ran into this article where Eben describes Facebook as analgous to a "man in the middle" attack that a hacker might employ to intercept apparently private communication for nefarious purposes. I think Eben's analogy is spot on: this isn't a technical hack, this is a social hack, and it amazes me how oblivious we are to the increasing damage Facebook is inflicting on our privacy and the danger it can pose to people who are deemed "criminals" wanted by law enforcement. | | | I do agree with Harry's point that the world needs another option. But I think more likely what will happen is that just as some may say that Facebook took over MySpace? , there will be another tech company that takes over Facebook, rendering Facebook obsolete and still leaving us with one popular option. In Moglen's Freedom in the Cloud speech, he said, "It's not a pretty story...We haven't lost. We've just really bamboozled ourselves. And we're going to have to unbamboozle ourselves really quickly or we're going to bamboozle a bunch of innocent people who didn't know we were throwing away their privacy for them forever." I believe this quote sheds light on the importance of properly educating individuals about the extent to which their collected information is used. But at what point should we hold users accountable for performing due diligence, and at least putting in some effort to find out how their information is used?
I am not a tech wiz, and from reading Moglen's speech I was assured of how naive my understanding of the web is. Moglen's Freedom in the Cloud speech gave me an abbreviated history of how technology has gotten to the point where it is now. But more importantly, Moglen's speech left me wondering, if the extent of the problem is so vast, when will people demand more transparency? Beyond protesting against wars and violent crimes, when will people take to the streets to demand that as internet "clients" we be re-empowered?
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> | -- AbiolaFasehun - 28 Feb 2012
In response to your question Abiola - I don’t know what it will take for people to take to the streets and demand internet re-empowerment but I think the first step is certainly being vocal. I believe one benefit of the recent SOPA debate is that it moderately raised the public awareness of the fact that we are clients of the internet. I am not a technology whiz either, but after listening to Professor Moglen talk about SOPA and ACTA in class I have started to pay more attention. Yesterday I went to the lunchtime debate re: SOPA, Protect IP, and OPEN. I know it was basically listening to the equivalent of two live advertisements alternatively for or against anti-piracy laws, but attending an event re: current events, and actually taking an active role in obtaining knowledge about a technological current event is huge for me.
I don’t understand most technology and mostly it scares me how pervasive it is.
I approach most technology with the idea that one day we will turn into a form of the world described by Gary Shteyngart’s in Super Sad True Love Story. If you’ve never read the book, Shteyngart depicts a futuristic dystopia where everybody has apparatii (essentially iphones) through which they conduct all activity (social interactions, shopping, reading, playing games, listening to music, etc.). Because all human activity is conducted via these electronic instruments, large companies collect and combine the data with their marketing expertise to subversively psychologically influence America.
What scares me most about our recent discussions in class is my participation in/passive acceptance of injustice and/or the terrifying things I see and hear about the world. Thus far my approach to my fear of technological dystopia I see us heading towards, is to remain as unaware of it as possible. Aside from gmail, facebook, and the occasional Wikipedia search, I legitimately do not use the internet, and pride myself on how little I understand it. But it’s happening without me and eventually it will effect me. Even though the result of the SOPA debate was moot, its prevalence in the news, combined with the fear elicited in me via our discussions in Law in Contemporary Society sparked me to start paying attention. Going to a debate in a law school classroom is far from going to the streets, but it’s at least a step.
-- SkylarPolansky - 29 Feb 2012 | | | \ No newline at end of file |
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