What the Fine Print at Big Sites Really Says

http://bit.ly/4fnEBy via @addthis

What the Fine Print at Big Sites Really Says http://bit.ly/1104qi

To be honest, I'm a little ambivalent about the concern over privacy. Maybe because it's that I lead a relatively boring life, or maybe it's a sense of fatalism I have about these kinds of things. If the worst thing a company will do is try to sell me a product based on my habits, well good luck--I am quite talented at ignoring ads, sales calls or other pitches. It's annoying, certainly, but just doesn't cause great alarm. There are other uses of my data, however, that would disturb me--restrictions on what I say, where I go, who I associate with and so on. So where I can, I'm choosy about what i share. Take Facebook. If I've mentioned this already here, indulge me. I guess I'm just old and wise, but I divulge very little there, so I'm not worried. It's a fun diversion and quite entertaining--that's all. For those who can't hold back, however, they'll learn their lesson. If people don't have the common sense not to post nude pictures, well, you can't save them from themselves. It a...(Read more of this comment)ll comes down to boundaries, as you said. And good parenting. True, i didn't have Facebook as a kid, but I was told not to go around broadcasting all your business! Same applies here. The technology makes it tricky, of course, so use caution. Which is why I use my spirit name, Riverwolf, on my own blog. All that info never goes away, but the alias allows me great freedom. I intentionally don't provide real, personal information. I have to protect myself and my family. If anyone ever goes looking, Riverwolf is merely a phantom. Oh, I'm very real but just on another level of existence, away from consensus reality. Maybe that's psychotic or childish or whatever, but it works. And if circumstances ever change, I may emerge from the shadows, prepared for whatever consequences come my way.(Show less of this comment)

Thanks for this. One tends to get lax in the face of so much electronic ways of communicating, but you are so right on. I was reminded of this when I subscribed to something on the net and within five minutes I got a call from my bank asking if this was legitimate. While on one hand, one can say they were looking out for me and a scam, on the other they were watching me to see if I deviated from their idea of my norm. It caused a moment of paranoia and I thought about what you are saying here and the collection of data which can and will be used against you, not necessarily in a court of law, but in the ongoing propaganda of what is considered "normal" and what the state wants to consider "appropriate" and/or "deviant". This is a new game. Not like the sixties at all.