But privacy issues don't just affect Google users. Facebook is also experiencing issues with its determination to impose the new timeline on account holders, where nothing is deleted and everybody's updates, comments and photos are available for viewing in chronological order. No more hiding that misspelled slag-off post about your boss after you staggered in late from another works do and he's offended you. The trouble with social media is that employers (or potential employers) are as savvy about it as your mates, and can easily have a look for you on Facebook, or follow your Tweets, to find out more about you. There have been a few stories in the past year of teachers, particularly, ending up in hot water over social networking posts and photos - whether deservedly or not - and at least one who lost her job over ill thought-out Tweets to students, which were reported to the school board and read by her bosses. Facebook have been slammed for their "Facebook for mobiles" app, which could potentially collect data from texts to sell on to third parties - all with users' permission, if you agree to the long-winded and rarely read Ts&Cs. Worrying, isn't it?
We all know that if you post something stupid on Facebook or Twitter, chances are it might come back to bite us. If, for example, someone looking to join the police force posts of an illegal activity on Facebook, could it come to light if the wrong person sees it, scuppering their chances of a career in the force? I KNOW that teachers, for example, have the right to privacy and to be able to chat to their mates on Facebook or Twitter, but when they choose to have parents and/or pupils as "friends" or followers, then they need to make sure their content is appropriate for their audience. Slagging off parents or making lewd comments to students, for example, is not only inappropriate but intensely unprofessional, and yet is done because people don't seem to realise, or appreciate, the power of the written word and how it makes them come across to other people.
But back to the privacy (or lack thereof) laws - what does it mean for us? As far as I can see, very little right now. The concern is that, in future, will Google follow the Facebook route of collating information with the intent of selling it onto third parties for whatever revenue-generating reason it can think of? At present, we have companies in the UK who track our spending habits in order to build credit profiles, available on application to lenders who use it to assess our suitability for mortgages and credit cards, as well as to potential employers for whom a credit check is necessary. What if someone decides to create a service whereby potential employers can buy a "social media and web credit check" - to see what candidates post on social networking sites, how they behave, their web history, their online purchases - in order to assess whether the person might be a valuable employee or merely a porn-surfing, excessive shoe purchasing drunkard with a penchant for posting photos of themselves with their bottom out on Facebook whilst moaning about their clients on Twitter? And for how LONG will Facebook, Google et al retain this information for? Will a graduate who spent three wild years out partying and sharing it with the world find themselves explaining their party lifestyle to a future employer for five years? Ten? What effect could this have on being hired - or fired? At the moment, information stored about us is used with our implicit consent, the moment we hit the "agree" button when presented with the terms of use. How many of us actually READ these terms in any detail? And Facebook basically own us the moment we sign up for an account - they can do whatever they want with our information, because it belongs to THEM. If (when) Google follow suit, there's no saying who will one day be able to track what we search for online, how many pairs of jeans we buy each month, how much beer we drank at college, and even how we sign off emails to our mum.
It might not be evil, but it doesn't mean it's right.
