Facebook has been long accused of serious privacy issues violations.
Google has also been charged with similar confidentiality problems by the Internet community.
The recent attack on Facebook and Google, which peaked on Friday the 10th, 2011 proves anew that people can bear only so much abuse before they start rioting against it and stand up to the violator.
Personal privacy awareness is especially strong in the USA. The freedom of speech and the right to express your opinion without any recourse is extremely deeply embedded in American souls and hearts. Freedom of speech is guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States and other legal acts. So is the personal privacy of its citizens.
The sentiment reaches far beyond the formal legal system. It is considered an undeniable right as basic and vital as primal biological needs.
Collecting and trading information about Internet users without their knowledge and explicit consent every time it is done is an obvious violation of personal privacy. It is one thing when it is done by spies. This is the environment filled with viruses, trojans, adware, spyware, malware, pings and other junk, we live and work in, whether we realize and/ or accept it or not.
This issue takes on a wholly different dimension when the act of spying and sharing your most hush-hush information is done by such already iconic institutions like Facebook or Google, who you trust your utmost covert secrets to.
When I write an e-mail and two days later, “completely incidentally”, I get a Google ad exactly matching information in the text I sent, not just in the title line, how do you think it is possible?
The answer is rather obvious. “They” know and sell the information included in my personal correspondence. It is not only not nice and impolite. It is a hideous infringement on my privacy. It is an atrocious violation of my basic human rights. It is a breach of a social contract and a foul play in the field of one the most secret fiduciary relationships; the relationship between a correspondence author and the mail service provider.
Can you see in your mind's eye your neighborhood mailman reading every letter he delivers to or from you? Yes, physically he could examine every single one even without you ever knowing about it. Is he going to that, though? Why then, our e-mails are scrolled, researched, librarized, indexed and sold to the highest paying bidder? I don’t recall placing my e-mail content at an auction, as soon as I start typing …
Even if the fine print in your agreement with Google of Facebook says that they have the right to do that, and believe it or not that’s what you signed, do they have a moral and ethical right to that?
The recent Internet community action provides a very loud and clear answer to this question.
My computer is my castle! Intruders beware!
Happy googling!
See ya …
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