Saturday, December 19, 2009

Privacy Schmivacy

Don't you find it fascinating all the tools we have in our discretion to stalk people?  Ok, maybe 'stalking' is the wrong term.  But I can determine a lot about people through a handful of sites.

On Facebook, I can learn whether or not someone's married or has children.  I think there was a big fuckup with the new privacy settings because if you didn't have time to set them up correctly, other people can see a lot of information about you even if they're not your Facebook friend. Previously, I couldn't see anything except a profile picture for an ex-friend, but now I can see some personal tidbits and several photo albums.  Clearly, she hasn't had a chance to go through the privacy settings and make her information public only to her friends.

On LinkedIn, I can back into how old people are.  I'm always curious to know how old people are.  I don't know why.  It just fascinates me.  I had dinner the other night with a friend's wife and was astonished to find out she's at least 10 years older than me--I thought she was my age!

On SimplyHired, I can find out how much you make.  The secret is out.  All my doctor friends who think they make so much money...really don't make much more than me.  In fact, general practioners and pediatricians make less than I do.  Plug in your salary.  You'll be surprised at how close the average is to what you make.

I can spend hours wasting time learning about my coworkers, friends, friends of friends.  I need to get offline and read more literature.

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