Check Yourself @ The Door. Please.
Keep your private life off the internet.
I can't tell you how many times in the past couple of weeks I've gotten into a debate with someone over internet privacy issues, with the ending result being me being not-so-much yelled at for being a heartless asshole. [yes, someone actually called me a heartless asshole.] Usually I'm pretty calm about things and such, but in this case, there's always a lone exception.
So with the release of Google+ recently to the Social Networking World, people have started the conversations about privacy issues and what's protected. Basically, without loading onto you a bunch of legal terms even I don't fully understand, Facebook, unlike Google and Twitter, do not have anything listed in their terms of agreements that make it mandatory for Facebook to notify its users whenever a warrant is served on your Facebook account. Essentially, if the police know of your Facebook account and believe it can provide sufficient information to implicate against you, they can contact Facebook and mandate that information turned over, and Facebook never has to tell you that the warrant's been served.
However, that does NOT mean that Facebook willingly and wholeheartedly gives your information to Joe Schmo who wants it 'cause they're obsessed with you. And I know it's pretty difficult to FAKE a warrant. There's a process that you have to go through with warrants (thank this knowledge coming from members of my family). You can't just get a warrant for something unless there's evidence that the warrant will be useful.
For those of you unfamiliar with warrants, in a nutshell, there has to be probable cause to serve a warrant for the search and/or seizure of property. For example, in order to serve a warrant to search your home, the police have to have probable cause to believe there is something incriminating in your home. Without this information, the police can't just get a warrant from the judge. Probable Cause has to be present.
Yes, in the past, Facebook has been used to incriminate someone, or prevent something from being done. One example in court was the denial of bail to someone who had been arrested because of a comment they had posted within Mafia Wars. In this case, that comment was seized without the person being notified, and was used in court to deny bail to that person. Yes, the police lying about their "reliable source" was rather shitty and inexcusable. But this is the meat of my point and my advice:
When you put something online, it's there forever, essentially. In some capacity, somewhere on the Internet, what you've posted is there forever. People post pictures of themselves doing stupid crap, but then get upset when bad things happen. You don't talk crap about your boss on your Facebook status or a wall post, and then expect your boss to NOT get upset when they see it and fire you. You can't expect something to not happen when pictures of you participating in underage drinking or committing of a crime is on Facebook. Surely you don't expect people to turn a blind eye if it's seen, especially if someone like the State/County/City Police Department sees it. ..... Right?
You want to know an easy solution?
Don't put your private life ONLINE.
That's pretty simple to do. If you don't want the world to know your phone number, then DON'T PUT IT ON YOUR FACEBOOK PROFILE. If you want your e-mail address to remain hidden from everyone, then DON'T PUT IT ON YOUR FACEBOOK PROFILE. Now, I'm a smart person and have my GSU e-mail hidden from view from all except maybe 5-10 people and my home chapter of TBS. Everyone else can't see it. I also have my apartment address, phone number, and other important information either NOT on my Facebook Profile or hidden from all those I don't want seeing it.
Don't rely on Facebook Privacy Rights to determine what you do and don't put online. You yourself are to blame if you put it up there and expect all to be wonderful. It makes me so upset when people get pissed at Facebook for their "lack of privacy" when THEY'RE the one putting all that crap online to begin with. You blame a social networking site for something you consciously chose to do. Not their fault. Check yourself at the door.
If there's a reason for the police to serve a warrant against your account, you obviously did something to give the police a reason to want to investigate your Facebook account. Want to avoid that? First, don't do anything that STUPID and CRAZY; second, don't give the police reason to search your account. It's THAT simple.
Now, my next point of view: Google+, in my opinion, is not the solve-all to end-all social networking problems. So stop telling me it is.
I don't hate Google+. I think it's another addition to the Social Networking World and another option for people to use. It's not even released to the public en masse yet, and people are already bitching about how they're closing down their Facebook accounts permanently and switching over to Google+.....
To you, I say you're a moron. You do realize that Google+ is in Beta mode right now, right? What happens if something goes wrong and Google+ doesn't work out? Ever consider that not all of your friends are going to go to Google+ now? If you aren't a believer in talking to people via phone/text, how will you talk to certain people?
I'm not moving into Google+, at least right now. It was hassle enough dealing with Facebook and MySpace when I had a MySpace account [I closed my MySpace account recently]. One social networking website is enough for me to deal with. I think there are certainly merits of Google+ that will be above Facebook. But for me, it's not enough to make me go and get an account (or, at this juncture, get invite into the Google+ circle).
I'm also tired of hearing about how I'm stupid for not getting a Google+ account.
One, I'm not stupid. I'm a very smart individual who's about to finish college with a Bachelors of Science in Information Technology, with a Specialization in Telecommunications and Network Administration and a Second Discipline in Music Technology, with a Minor in Applied Music.
Two, I don't jump on the Bandwagon of Popularity with people who are all about doing the IN THING. I didn't get a Facebook until I was a college Freshman, 2nd Semester. I didn't get a Twitter account until 2009 or 2010 because I wanted to follow Jeff Gordon's Twitter account. I don't have a Tumblr. I have a Blog I barely write on. The only thing I have that not a lot of people I know have is a YouTube account and a Dailybooth account. I started playing Angry Birds and Words with Friends a month after everyone stopped hyping about it. I don't follow what everyone else does, and I never have. And I never WILL, mostly because I don't see the point in it. To me, it's just entirely too stupid and finicky for me. I'll stick to what I like, thanks.
I won't stand for people referring to me as a dumbass for not hoping on social media's gravy train. I'll stick to what I like. So shut the f#$k up about me not moving to Google+. And leave me alone about it.
Sitting here I started formulating more and more words to add, most notably about the Women's World Cup. But this blog post is long enough and that's an entry for itself. So I'll have to fill you in on that one another time, maybe tomorrow. : P
Until next time...
Peace to your face.
I can't tell you how many times in the past couple of weeks I've gotten into a debate with someone over internet privacy issues, with the ending result being me being not-so-much yelled at for being a heartless asshole. [yes, someone actually called me a heartless asshole.] Usually I'm pretty calm about things and such, but in this case, there's always a lone exception.
So with the release of Google+ recently to the Social Networking World, people have started the conversations about privacy issues and what's protected. Basically, without loading onto you a bunch of legal terms even I don't fully understand, Facebook, unlike Google and Twitter, do not have anything listed in their terms of agreements that make it mandatory for Facebook to notify its users whenever a warrant is served on your Facebook account. Essentially, if the police know of your Facebook account and believe it can provide sufficient information to implicate against you, they can contact Facebook and mandate that information turned over, and Facebook never has to tell you that the warrant's been served.
However, that does NOT mean that Facebook willingly and wholeheartedly gives your information to Joe Schmo who wants it 'cause they're obsessed with you. And I know it's pretty difficult to FAKE a warrant. There's a process that you have to go through with warrants (thank this knowledge coming from members of my family). You can't just get a warrant for something unless there's evidence that the warrant will be useful.
For those of you unfamiliar with warrants, in a nutshell, there has to be probable cause to serve a warrant for the search and/or seizure of property. For example, in order to serve a warrant to search your home, the police have to have probable cause to believe there is something incriminating in your home. Without this information, the police can't just get a warrant from the judge. Probable Cause has to be present.
Yes, in the past, Facebook has been used to incriminate someone, or prevent something from being done. One example in court was the denial of bail to someone who had been arrested because of a comment they had posted within Mafia Wars. In this case, that comment was seized without the person being notified, and was used in court to deny bail to that person. Yes, the police lying about their "reliable source" was rather shitty and inexcusable. But this is the meat of my point and my advice:
When you put something online, it's there forever, essentially. In some capacity, somewhere on the Internet, what you've posted is there forever. People post pictures of themselves doing stupid crap, but then get upset when bad things happen. You don't talk crap about your boss on your Facebook status or a wall post, and then expect your boss to NOT get upset when they see it and fire you. You can't expect something to not happen when pictures of you participating in underage drinking or committing of a crime is on Facebook. Surely you don't expect people to turn a blind eye if it's seen, especially if someone like the State/County/City Police Department sees it. ..... Right?
You want to know an easy solution?
Don't put your private life ONLINE.
That's pretty simple to do. If you don't want the world to know your phone number, then DON'T PUT IT ON YOUR FACEBOOK PROFILE. If you want your e-mail address to remain hidden from everyone, then DON'T PUT IT ON YOUR FACEBOOK PROFILE. Now, I'm a smart person and have my GSU e-mail hidden from view from all except maybe 5-10 people and my home chapter of TBS. Everyone else can't see it. I also have my apartment address, phone number, and other important information either NOT on my Facebook Profile or hidden from all those I don't want seeing it.
Don't rely on Facebook Privacy Rights to determine what you do and don't put online. You yourself are to blame if you put it up there and expect all to be wonderful. It makes me so upset when people get pissed at Facebook for their "lack of privacy" when THEY'RE the one putting all that crap online to begin with. You blame a social networking site for something you consciously chose to do. Not their fault. Check yourself at the door.
If there's a reason for the police to serve a warrant against your account, you obviously did something to give the police a reason to want to investigate your Facebook account. Want to avoid that? First, don't do anything that STUPID and CRAZY; second, don't give the police reason to search your account. It's THAT simple.
Now, my next point of view: Google+, in my opinion, is not the solve-all to end-all social networking problems. So stop telling me it is.
I don't hate Google+. I think it's another addition to the Social Networking World and another option for people to use. It's not even released to the public en masse yet, and people are already bitching about how they're closing down their Facebook accounts permanently and switching over to Google+.....
To you, I say you're a moron. You do realize that Google+ is in Beta mode right now, right? What happens if something goes wrong and Google+ doesn't work out? Ever consider that not all of your friends are going to go to Google+ now? If you aren't a believer in talking to people via phone/text, how will you talk to certain people?
I'm not moving into Google+, at least right now. It was hassle enough dealing with Facebook and MySpace when I had a MySpace account [I closed my MySpace account recently]. One social networking website is enough for me to deal with. I think there are certainly merits of Google+ that will be above Facebook. But for me, it's not enough to make me go and get an account (or, at this juncture, get invite into the Google+ circle).
I'm also tired of hearing about how I'm stupid for not getting a Google+ account.
One, I'm not stupid. I'm a very smart individual who's about to finish college with a Bachelors of Science in Information Technology, with a Specialization in Telecommunications and Network Administration and a Second Discipline in Music Technology, with a Minor in Applied Music.
Two, I don't jump on the Bandwagon of Popularity with people who are all about doing the IN THING. I didn't get a Facebook until I was a college Freshman, 2nd Semester. I didn't get a Twitter account until 2009 or 2010 because I wanted to follow Jeff Gordon's Twitter account. I don't have a Tumblr. I have a Blog I barely write on. The only thing I have that not a lot of people I know have is a YouTube account and a Dailybooth account. I started playing Angry Birds and Words with Friends a month after everyone stopped hyping about it. I don't follow what everyone else does, and I never have. And I never WILL, mostly because I don't see the point in it. To me, it's just entirely too stupid and finicky for me. I'll stick to what I like, thanks.
I won't stand for people referring to me as a dumbass for not hoping on social media's gravy train. I'll stick to what I like. So shut the f#$k up about me not moving to Google+. And leave me alone about it.
Sitting here I started formulating more and more words to add, most notably about the Women's World Cup. But this blog post is long enough and that's an entry for itself. So I'll have to fill you in on that one another time, maybe tomorrow. : P
Until next time...
Peace to your face.
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