Who’s really getting the most benefit out of Facebook? Divorce lawyers.
Because of fresh connections created with old flames and introductions to new people, it makes sense that social media, specifically Facebook, is conducive to “e-philandering,” the term for online cheating.
According to the article on DailyFinance.com, one lawyer stated that almost one in every five divorce petitions his company processes involves a mention of Facebook.
Even better (for the lawyers) is that much of the inappropriate information shared by guilty parties is traceable and public (make sure you set those privacy settings!).
“ I want everybody here to be careful about what you post on Facebook because in the YouTube age, whatever you do will be pulled up again later somewhere in your life.
President Barack Obama
Tech-heads went ballistic this weekend when Facebook changed its Terms of Service Agreement over to something along the lines of “We own you.” Facebook CEO and boy-wonder Mark Zuckerberg responded without remorse, confirming that he does, indeed, have total control over us.
I’m very aware that Google Latitude (which tracks your location through your smartphone signal) opens the door for innovation in mobile advertising, in addition to other things. However, effective as it may be in the future, I just cannot get past the creepiness factor of someone knowing where I am at all times. It looks as though the watchdog group Privacy International agrees with me, as they released a statement about privacy concerns about the hyped-up system:
“As it stands right now, Latitude could be a gift to stalkers, prying employers, jealous partners and obsessive friends,” Simon Davies, director of Privacy International, said.
Latititude lovers will defend the tracker by saying that users don’t have to participate because its an opt-in service, but Privacy International makes a great point by stating that any third party who gets a hold of your phone (mischievous friends, phone repair shops, weirdos) can turn it on when you’re not looking.
Many of my friends who are teachers ask me how they should handle having a presence on social networks without causing conflict in their position. From now on, my answer will be “Not like Stacy Snyder,” a teaching student at Millersville University who posted pictures on MySpace of herself boozing it up while wearing a pirate hat, and was subsequently dismissed from her teaching program. Good job, Stacester, although now you’ll probably have to look into more low-profile employment opportunities such as delivering the mail, you know, instead of acting as a role model for the children of America.
Is your dirty laundry being aired out in cyberspace?
Do you ever feel as if the web has access to your personal diary? It’s like the Internet knows all of your secrets. The Web is always sending targeted pop-ups that you might not want to see (like you’re overweight, single, etc…) And now, Facebook is sending them too! Glamour.com recently posted on the topic and so has Yahoo! Shine and the Washington Post. Glamour.com writer Rachel Beckman summed up her experience like this:
Every time I logged in to my home page, Facebook’s ads screamed at me with all the subtlety of a drill sergeant: “MUFFIN TOP.” With the knowledge that I was engaged to be married, the site splashed an ad across the left side of the screen playing into a presumed vulnerability. Do you want to be a fat bride? You’d better go to such-and-such Web site to learn how to lose weight before the big day.”
Celeste explores the moral questions surrounding university administrations monitoring Facebook for aberrant or nefarious behavior among students. Imperative or intrusive?
Today’s hoopla over 
