gazettefan - Another good one! You're too much for me.
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Glad to know that you're watching me. The world is watching you, too. http://kommlabs.com/products-revealinx.a...

PBRMan - You use an alias here. Why? Do you have something to hide, or are you trying to remain anonymous? If you don't care if other people know everything about your business, why don't you use your real name here, and give us your address and phone numbers too?

Eksreigh - was is so fake about my name?

Eksreigh, we're watching you.

Oops, I meant 100 million. Well, 100 million people wouldn't be needed either.

No, they don't need 200 million people to sift through the data. That's what high-speed computers and data mining programs are for. But you guys go ahead and spill your guts online. PBRMan, if you don't have anything to hide and you don't care who knows your business, why do you use a fake name on this site?

Eksreigh, the government would need 100 million people to sift through the data of the other 200 million people for any "analysis" to be productive.

Re: one of your examples: government knows that a suspected terrorist was a former roommate. So What?! What's wrong with the government knowing who a suspected terrorist associated with? How is the government supposed to be productive re: such matters if they didn't know such things. Wouldn't you as the former roommate want to assist in an investigation of that kind? If the person was wrongly suspected and you were able to say that he never exhibited terrorist behavior, wouldn't you wish to provide that information?

You are kidding right? I have nothing to hide and don't care if they are "collecting" my data. I lead a pretty boring life, and if the government thinks I am a person of interest, they will be largely disappointed...LOL.

Great comebacks, gazettefan and PBRMan.
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No, I'm not paranoid about the government knowing my favorite color or what I'm having for dinner. (Not that it's particularly relevant to the discussion, but how would the government know my favorite color from my previous post?)
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If either of you send mail in the postal system using envelopes instead of postcards, I would ask you why. Do you have something to hide, and are you paranoid that someone may read your correspondence?
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The issue is not that the government knows one insignificant item about your life. The issue is that by using Facebook (assuming suspicions are correct) you help tie everything together, so that in one massive data base the government knows almost *everything* about you. In addition to already knowing everything about your finances, your medical history, your education history, your residence history, the web sites you visit, the contents of your emails, etc., you are volunteering even more minutiae. You are adding information about what you do, what you think about, who you know and how often you talk to them, what you talk about, and what they think and say about you. Maybe you even add photos! The same information is gathered about your friends, and their friends, and their friends … .
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By having all the data in one place, an analyst can see intriguing coincidences, such as the fact that six friends of your friends have been busted for dope, or your ex-boyfriend/girlfriend (who is now a tax protestor) pays a tab at the same bar on the same nights you pay yours, or a person now suspected of being a radical Islamist was also the roommate you had back in college, or that you belong to the NRA and also own a handgun. Maybe you even posted pictures of your gun, or of you toking the p.o.t. at somebody’s party.
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I see this massive data collection as a significant move toward enabling a totalitarian state.

Eksreigh - paranoid? I am really worried now that the government can see according to my status, what I am having for dinner..(sarcasm)

miltonalum, you totally missed the point on that one. If and when you have kids are you going to be that parent that thinks it's ok when your kid is texting you or your wife from the bedroom about a question that arises? Or what about the best friend of your kid that lives a block away and they rarely see each other anymore because it's more convenient to use facebook? Facebook has it's place in society, it doesn't take the place of up close and human relationships. There's a disconnect in society whether you want to admit or not. As KLEEJ said, it's not healthy.

Kleej that was the dumbest post ive seen in a while, facebook increases communication tenfold, do you really think people were going to travel across town to tell a friend that they were wearing yellow socks today? thats a communication they would never have had prior to facebook and they are still going to meet for lunch every 3rd saturday just like normal.

Great point, Kleej.

It's all about community. While FB is a great means to get in touch with long lost people in your life, it's also a devilish tool to disconnect people who used to actually talk face to face with each other on a daily or weekly basis. It's another product of the digital age in which we can use it to our advantage or mis-use it and allow it to take advantage of us. People are unaware of the ill effects long term and the one's in touch with reality need to educate the lost!

And now the government knows Eksreigh's favorite color.

No Facebook. No MySpace. What a waste of time and energy. Don't want or need the pseudo-friends.
I'll use the old method, face to face, over a cup of coffee. The telephone is a second choce. All my true friends know how to get a hold of me.

In 2002, the federal government began a program called Total Information Awareness, under a newly established Information Awareness Office. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information...) It's stated purpose was "to gather as much information as possible about everyone in a centralized location for easy perusal by the United States government, including Internet activity, credit card purchase histories, airline ticket purchases, car rentals, medical records, educational transcripts, driver's licenses, utility bills, tax returns, and any other available data."
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Once existence of the program became public knowledge, many people objected to this mass surveillance system. In 2003, Senator Russ Feingold of Janesville introduced legislation to suspend the program until Congress could review the privacy issues. Congress decided to stop funding the program, but several of the projects continue under other funding programs. (Id.)
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Meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg starts Facebook. He receives $12.7 million in funding from a company whose manager sits on a board with the CEO of In-Q-Tel, a venture capital firm formed by the CIA. This manager also has other ties to the Department of Defense and the Information Awareness Office.
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The Facebook privacy policy says that the site can share information with pretty much anybody they choose, including “other companies, lawyers, agents or government agencies.”
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Is it a big stretch to suspect that the DoD and CIA have attempted to bypass Congress and find corporate sponsorship for their surveillance programs?
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Before anyone starts in with the “tin foil hat” insults, check some references yourself. You can debate the purpose of the Facebook site, but the government connections are real.
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http://conspiracynews.org/?p=122
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?c...
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-104072...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVHWIdkFs...

What are Myface and Spacebook?

Janesvillean, you are absolutely right. If you exercise good surfing habits and keep your virus scanner up to date, it will help minimize your risk on social networking sites. (I too use AVG and Avast on different computers here.)
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Here is a video of one of the more recent virus or malware events floating around Facebook.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5jfJx4ZV...
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As the video indicates, if you do not download the plug-in, you should be safe. However, what I see happen many times is the user is not presented the option to cancel and is prompted over and over to download/install. Out of frustration they finally relent and click OK. You are now infected -- end of story.
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And as the video also indicates, the virus may have been uploaded to your social space by one of your unsuspecting friends who may be infected. Not much different than opening an email attachment from a "trusted" source.
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Enjoy!

MySpace is definitely a virus/malware risk. Facebook is slightly better but there have still been reports of people getting Facebook-only malware attacks (e.g. to contact all your friends with spam). The main issue people have with Facebook is the cavalier approach to privacy the company has. It's almost impossible to keep yourself out of the nose of a troublesome ex, for instance, and you have little control over the comments or photos that others post about you, which has in notable cases cost people their jobs.
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If you run a standard virus/malware product you substantially reduce your risk; I use avast! antivirus, AVG is also good (I find the commercial suites from Norton and McAfee bloated). You can also use Malwarebytes Anti-Malware to scan your system for trojan-type infections, and on FireFox you can use the add-on NoScript, AdBlock Plus, and FlashBlock to prevent things from running automatically when you open an unfamiliar web page.
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That said I have a presence on Facebook and while I don't check in daily (I mainly use Twitter instead) it is a means of communication for most of my college friends and some of my family. I'm very used to social media, though, and I know it isn't for everyone.

RobsEm likes this

You didn't go to the reunion did you. If you did sorry I didn't see you there!

Not kidding. I would surmise either you are very diligent with your social networking sites or very lucky.
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If you don't believe it, try searching "virus on Facebook" or other social networking sites of your choice.
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I have "cleaned" numerous computers infected with this stuff. Granted, I am sure not all of the infections were from social networking sites alone.
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If social networking sites is your cup of tea, fine. It is not for me.
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Enjoy!

Way to easy to contract a virus, packrat? Are you kidding me? I've used myspace and facebook for over 3 years and have never contracted any sort of virus or malware from either. If you have a little common sense using them, you won't have any problems. By the way, the "bad guys" can't see your information, you can set privacy settings so only people you select as friends can see it. Obviously someone doesn't know what they are talking about when it comes to social networking.
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Currently, I have about 610 "friends" on facebook. I actually know about 70% of them (family, friends, people from high school, people from college, etc). The other 30% are people I've networked with who have similar hobbies or work a similar job (probably less than 1,000 of us in the US, and we're a well networked group).

No Facebook, MySpace, etc. for me! Way to easy to contract a virus or malware from those sites. I certainly do not live under a rock, but to put that much information out there on the internet for the world to see (including the bad guys!), is not for me...
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Happy New Year!