What are you trying to hide?

Like many, I’m fascinated by the uproar over privacy on the Internet, but I think my opinion is opposite most.

Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook are really taking the heat for an entire industry of people and entities that trade in personal data routinely without being 100% transparent about it. They’re being vilified as if they’re literally committing crimes against humanity. Considering they host 500 million users, that’s a lot of humanity.

Humanity is fighting back. Social media frenzy, it’s turning out, is just as good as traditional media when it comes to instantly turning a hot topic into something worthy of its own logo and 24×7 coverage by every journalist, all hands on deck. Even in social media, there’s always got to be a story. We do love a story.

The coverage of Zuckerberg and Facebook’s “crimes” over the past few days has been intense, similar to the death of MJ or the busting of Tiger. It’s hasn’t quite reached Iranian student demonstrations or the earthquake in Haiti, but it’s hard to escape without going into solitary, device-free. [Heard they are working on Flash for device-free, btw, but that’s another post.]

I saw this http://tnw.to/16CQt and learned “that some of our largest fears have been realized.” Not only Facebook, but MySpace, Digg, and LiveJournal have been accused in a Wall Street Journal report of including user information in data sent back to advertising companies when a banner ad is clicked.

Is this really a shock? I’m shocked that you’re shocked. Did you think AOL doesn’t have backups of your IMs from 1996 when you were trolling chat rooms and ‘what are you wearing?’ was all the rage? Today the answer to that question is found on Chatroulette and the data exchange includes video. I’ve still made good on my attempt to never lay eyes on it. Whoever is perving out on Chatroulette right now – psst, assume they’re backing up data but don’t worry – they’re probably not recording. (You hope.)

According to the Journal report the information sent to the advertising companies could be used to hunt down the individual accounts of the person who clicked the banner. From there, depending on what the user makes public, an advertiser could find out that person’s real name, age, hometown, occupation.

So what? Seriously. So. What?

Again, this is nothing new. If you think your data hasn’t been mined based on every credit card purchase you’ve made over the last 20 years, think again. If you put it out there, it’s out there. If you’re going to storm off and leave Facebook to protect your privacy don’t expect to have solved your problem. It’s a grain of sand on the beach.

There’s not much you can do in the Western world that can’t be traced. If you’re engaging in some activity or behavior that you don’t want to be caught doing, there’s a better chance than ever before you’ll be caught. There’s a digital trail that leads to you. This isn’t Facebook’s fault. It’s a fact of modern life and technology. Andy Warhol and George Orwell are pretty brilliant, huh? In today’s world, everyone’s famous and Big Brother is always watching. They were right.

There are still some shreds of privacy to be found. If you’re discussing sensitive matters, go Tony Soprano and get off the grid. You know, have a conversation face-to-face. Maybe outdoors somewhere. Like the middle of Montana. Power off your phone if you’re on the lam. Don’t post your college party pics. It’s easy if you try.

Since today’s reality is what it is, I don’t have a problem with Facebook’s policy. It’s Facebook’s website. It’s not ours. We’ve been given this amazing and revolutionary gift. For free. One, Facebook is just going with the flow of reality. Two, Facebook has to pay a lot of bills.

Have you ever once heard someone say, “Gee, I wonder what it costs to run Facebook. It’s a pretty complex app. And wow, that’s gotta be a lotta data. 500 million users. Pretty cool it’s free. Hmm, wonder what their hosting bill is like?”

No. You haven’t. Well it costs a jillion. And we’re getting it for free. But nothing is free, of course, so someone somewhere is paying for our ride. It’s venture capitalists. And venture capitalists want their money back and then some. And if it doesn’t come, rest assured, the ride will end, too.

Facebook has to make money. The way I see it, there are two choices – marketing/advertising or subscription. If it’s advertising, I want my ads to be targeted to me. I don’t want to see ads for brands and services that don’t interest me. I want to see that Drive By Truckers are playing in Tarrytown on June 4. So I happily expose my information to advertisers. After all, what are they doing with it that’s harmful? At most, annoying me? At worse … what?

If it’s “private”, then it’s got to be subscription. I seem to remember a whole “I’m going to quit Facebook” thing when that was rumored. So, really, there’s no pleasing those 500 million disgruntled customers, is there? Actually, 499,999,999 disgruntled customers. I’m totally gruntled.