If you answered no the the title of this post, then my friends you already have surrendered all your personal and private information to a nerd. That is, if you’re on Facebook.
Have you ever given it some thought? Mark Zuckerberg C.E.O. and co-founder of Facebook knows who your friends are, what they look like and even where you are at this very moment. He knows a lot about you, now its time for you to learn a little about him and the upcoming Hollywood version of the social network called, well “The Social Network” directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin.
The New Yorker featured an article on Zuckerberg titled The Face of Facebook — Mark Zuckerberg Opens Up. A particular section of the article stood out for me:
The technology site Silicon Alley Insider got hold of some of the messages and, this past spring, posted the transcript of a conversation between Zuckerberg and a friend, outlining how he was planning to deal with Harvard Connect:
FRIEND: so have you decided what you are going to do about the websites?
ZUCK: yea i’m going to fuck them
ZUCK: probably in the year
ZUCK: *earIn another exchange leaked to Silicon Alley Insider, Zuckerberg explained to a friend that his control of Facebook gave him access to any information he wanted on any Harvard student:
ZUCK: yea so if you ever need info about anyone at harvard
ZUCK: just ask
ZUCK: i have over 4000 emails, pictures, addresses, sns
FRIEND: what!? how’d you manage that one?
ZUCK: people just submitted it
ZUCK: i don’t know why
ZUCK: they “trust me”
ZUCK: dumb fucksAccording to two knowledgeable sources, there are more unpublished IMs that are just as embarrassing and damaging to Zuckerberg. But, in an interview, Breyer told me, “Based on everything I saw in 2006, and after having a great deal of time with Mark, my confidence in him as C.E.O. of Facebook was in no way shaken.” Breyer, who sits on Facebook’s board, added, “He is a brilliant individual who, like all of us, has made mistakes.” When I asked Zuckerberg about the IMs that have already been published online, and that I have also obtained and confirmed, he said that he “absolutely” regretted them. “If you’re going to go on to build a service that is influential and that a lot of people rely on, then you need to be mature, right?” he said. “I think I’ve grown and learned a lot.”
Read more http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/09/20/100920fa_fact_vargas?currentPage=all#ixzz0zf24AfBZ
Anytime we surrender personal information, we should understand what the risks are. Some people blindly post every single thing about their lives and pictures of their children, family, etc. For the most part, it probably won’t do you any harm unless you’re a high profile individual. Most of us are probably not important enough for our information to be compromised. Nevertheless, it is there for the taking. Its the same thing with Google, they know your emails, who you write to, what you do, etc. Uncle Ben put it best when he said, “With great power comes great responsibility.” All we can do is understand the risks, privacy policies to the best of our abilities and not be surprised in the end if something does happen because it will only be our fault for using free services. There is always a price to pay.
Look, I’m sure Zuckerberg has “outgrown” his pre-pubescent tendencies and is a more responsible individual. There is no denying that he is very bright but that also at a whim could unleash the Revenge of the Nerds on any one of us that pisses him off on his popular social medium.
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