Sunday 28 October 2007

Facebook is...


Recently there has been an uproar in the news (and in a funny way if you appreciate irony: on Facebook) about the Facebook terms of use.
First of all: you did check the "Yes, I read the terms of use" box, did you not? Should we not have a headline that reads "Millions of users lies to Facebook"? Sure: I did not read it. I did not read it after the news got upset either. And I will probably never read it. And while I'm at it: I can say with a fair amount of certainty that I will never read ANY terms of use-text for any product or service. Ever. For one simple reason: I'm pretty certain they all say the same thing: "You are screwed, we will screw you even more, and by checking that box, you just pulled down your pants and bent over".
But I'm fine with that. As long as they provide a service that makes up for it.

But here is the real problem. That people think that they can control information that they place on the Internet.

I go all The Scream-faced when I realize people are actually surprised that they have lost control over their data when they upload data to Facebook (or any other place on the Internet). Grow up and pause to think for 5 seconds before you upload that funny picture of your friend passed out drunk, smeared in ketchup with his wiener hanging out, freshly painted with a permanent marker. Often you will realize that it may be funny, but not "ha ha"-funny

And if you think "I can just remove it and it will be gone": Say hello to the Wayback Machine.