Paranoid

I got a call from my favorite sister today, sister #2, and she started talking about something called Google Reader. Which I guess is another Google offspring where you can subscribe to internet sites? Basically kinda like Twitter but with actual sites, instead of links to sites? I'm not super sure.

The slogan for Google is "don't be evil." I find that a little ironic since it practically rules the internet, a virtually limitless source of information and connectivity. It could become the most diabolical corporation in the world if it wanted to. The next BP of interneting. Hopefully Google won't blow up a website and have pixels spew out of your computer screen for 3 months straight.

I do find it rather...unnerving that one internet website has so much diverse power. Google. Gmail. Google Earth. Google Chrome. Dozens of others, including, holy shit, Blogger. Hopefully when I hit "Publish Post," the Google swat won't break through the windows and shoot me on the spot. I guess you, my reader will never know. You search for my name and "Your search - "Alex What'smylastnameagain?" - did not match any documents." pops up. My blog will disappear off of the face of existence, along side my Youtube, Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, Google wave, and the rest of my internet identity. Well, except my Myspace, because no one cares about Myspace anyway.

My sister, sister#2, says I'm paranoid because Facebook is far more evil than Google is. I guess that's true. About once a month I hear something or see something about how Facebook is breaking their policies. Then I log in and try to make things even more secure. But there's no such thing as internet privacy. That's all just an illusion. Once you log on, the wall separating your private life and your public life starts to crack, then sooner or later, it crumbles, and once it does, you can never rebuild it again. Your friends, your enemies, your ex's, your employer, and your grandma can all find out everything about you. Once you hit 'post' or 'send' or 'share,' you might as well be posting it to time square. There was an episode of 'The Office' where one character asks another "Why do you have a diary?" His response, "To keep secrets from my computer." Funny, right? But in the end, he's the lucky one who can actually keep his two identities separate. He is safer, more secure, and can keep his privacy...private!

The world we live in...

Emails getting read.
Facebooks being hacked.
Phones being tapped.
Search engine searches saved.
Texts used against you in a court of law.

I miss life back in the good days when we didn't have the internet, and people wrote letters, and we had the threat of nuclear war at every waking second. I miss those days...

Anyway, I'm gonna get some grapes. Be safe interneters, you never know when you may be typing up a facebook update, telling your 450 friends that you just got out of the shower and are no planning on ordering a pizza, and all of a sudden your identity gets stolen, and your bank accounts have dropped to zero. That's the last time you give your pin number and checking account number to the Nigerian prince that sent you that email...

What was I talking about? Oh yeah! Grapes!



-Æ