scary Facebook

Ok, if we're calling websites like Facebook, YouTube and Myspace "new media", this media blog should be able to cover them, right?

Obviously, I can't do the traditional "what are kids up to these days" rant, but I do have a complaint. The only one of these "new" services (although I would argue that personal websites have been around a lot longer than some of the critics) I actually use frequently is Facebook, and it recently took a big step away from service to advertising delivery method. And it's invading our privacy to do so.

Since I first opened my Facebook account two years ago, I've noticed some gradual changes in its format. It went from being open only to college-enrolled people (verified by a university email address) to adding high school students, then the general public. Now, I'm not one to promote social-networking elitism, so that was ok. Then it added Google-style pay-per-click ads. Hey, they're a business, so that's acceptable too.

Then these little "applications" started appearing. Play a zombie-attack game with your friends. Give your friends "gifts". Keep track of local shows. I had the option of not adding any, so I was still fine with simply denying all the requests to "start biting chumps" and find out who has a crush on me (ok, so I added that one, then removed it again in embarrassment when I realized I'd been tricked).

The straw that broke the camel's back came when I got online the other day to find a Thanksgiving pie recipe. I often use the website Epicurious.com for this purpose, and I have an account with them where I save potential recipes in a "box" in some wild fantasy that I'll one day have time to cook them. So I saved a recipe in the box. Then, as I do before and after almost every computer session, I checked Facebook. I stared at an entry at the top of the home page. Then I looked over my shoulder to find out where the Facebook spy goon was standing and reporting my activities to Corporate. Or did they just use a hidden camera?

The message that had catapulted me into a 1984 mindset said that Facebook would publish on my "news feed" (the home page for all Facebook users in my network of friends that reports on the Facebook activities of me and other friends) that I had just added "Pecan Pie IV" to my Epicurious recipe box. No joke. It wasn't even asking my permission. It was informing me. I had not been logged into both websites at the same time. I had not put in any request to link the two accounts in any way. But somehow, Facebook had used my name or email address, found the account on an unrelated, previously unaffiliated site, and kept track of my activity there to make Facebook's knowledge of my online - and offline - life more complete. Yike.

I got up from the computer and hid in the other room. Then I went back to Facebook to see if it knew that I'd opened a window. Ok, I'm exaggerating. But it was just that confusing. How did it know??

It just goes to show how complacent I've become about this thing that I didn't do anything more about the matter after that, other than to find the privacy setting that "shared" (I think "prostituted" would be a me appropriate word, but whatever) my Epicurious info with Facebook. I was a little bothered that I couldn't find out what other websites it was sharing with the feed (imagining lines like "Tuula has just checked her Gmail for the 18th time today"; "Tuula just spent 5 minutes on NYTimes.com but 14 minutes on craigslist" appearing before my acquaintances), but I figured I'd find out soon enough. Then I decided I'd wasted enough of my life to the thing and went on to do something more productive. (Myspace. Just kidding.)

I did learn a little more about this when my news feed informed me, this morning, that a friend had posted a "note" (similar to a blog entry) about Facebook's privacy settings. (Take that for irony, Facebook!) Apparently, others have noticed the goon standing behind their desks, and they don't like it either. There have been a few news stories on the new "feature", this one being the most complete.

It's hopeful that people have paid attention to this invasion, but I don't know whether the unhappy murmurings among users and a few "outsiders" will actually remove it. After all, there were news stories when Facebook opened itself up to the general populace, and when it launched what is now ominously referred to as "the feed." People were upset about those things too, but now they accept them and have even come to like them. (Personally, I rejected the feed at first. Then, I found myself having conversations with my friends like "Did you hear Monica broke up with Jake?" "Yeah, saw it on the feed this morning." "She's really pissed at him. She wrote on Sara's wall that she defriended him.")

There is a very thin line between an innocent gossip-aid and a spy. I think it gets crossed when my activity is shared with outside companies without my prior permission. Yeah, the Epicurious thing wouldn't have been a big deal. If they'd asked me. But they didn't, and I only found out because I was paying attention. I have a feeling only about half of my friends will notice this, and not many who do will actually do anything about it.

Orwell's nightmare future began with a sudden revolution, a definite shift in power toward a technology-enabled dictatorship. But the "party" in 1984 could have done it another way. They could have introduced the telescreens as a convenience to users, then slowly increased their dependence on the technology while adding to its invasiveness. In our case, this dependence is ironically linked to our need to stay informed, in touch, in the loop. I wouldn't dream of closing my Facebook account for fear of losing track of my friends. Unfortunately, the information we're receiving is falsely relevant; and is now becoming geared toward our habits as consumers more than our actions as "friends". And who is Big Brother in 2084? Not government. Marketers, and the corporations behind them.