Yes, I subscribe to Facebook and I am not ashamed of it. It might look puerile, but part of my daily routine is logging in and finding out what my “compadres” are up to.
In these days of globalization, some of my friends are living far away and this is the best way to keep in touch with all of them in a single swoop.
Be it the US, France, England, Spain or Russia, I can communicate with them globally and feel the pulse of things abroad. Because yes my fellow Americans, there is life outside the United States.
I am not a troll, and I seldom rant about politics, but data mining would definitely indicate where I politically stand.
And there lies the danger. In a repressive regime, I would probably be classified as an “enemy of the state” and it would not be long before “security” people would knock at my door and bring me in for “questioning.”
Have you ever heard of the telephone book method?
Can you imagine for a minute what the Nazis would have done with Facebook?
But let’s not fool ourselves; our private data cannot be called private anymore. Just about anybody can find out in a few minutes who you are, where you live, if you are married, if you are gay, what your political affiliation is, if you own your house and even if you are having an affair with your next door neighbor.
And despite indignant claims to the contrary, businesses are using this gamy data on a regular basis.
So don’t ever volunteer any superfluous information on social media. Just name, rank and serial number, according to the Geneva Convention.
Am I going to cancel my subscription to Facebook because of the Cambridge Analytica scandal?
No. You cannot live in fear; otherwise, you would never leave your lair.
I am a fatalist! Que sera, sera!
The Greek philosopher Aeschylus was told that he would die when a house would fall on his head, so he decided to never sleep inside.
He died when an eagle dropped a tortoise (a house) on his head and killed him.
Despite anything you will do to protect yourself, the Gods will eventually decide what your fate will be. Sacrifying a virgin might help a little, but not much.
So, what should I do?
Keep your head in the sand and continue pretending that all is well on the Western Front.
Alain