Openness can be a sordid affair
Through an #H818 activity I was reminded of an alarming number of pre-recorded telephone calls I have received over the last few months. I must be one lucky guy, as the amount of Ipads I have won over the last few months is phenomenal. I'm always winning them, admittedly, some may not have been Ipads as I tend to hang up on congr, but I know they will be equally as enticing prizes as the aforementioned Ipad. It isn't the phonecall itself that is alarming, but the frequency of the calls and the wonder from where it came from. I consider myself quite cynical when it comes to filling out personal information online, or anywhere for that matter, I don't just put my personal info anywhere, and I constantly nag my children about this kind of behaviour as well, I'm sure you can imagine this makes me quite popular at times indoors. So this leads me to think that these rogue data must surely come from a trusted source, a trusted party has been selling my personal information, who could it be, then it occurred to me to look at my facebook profile. Damn it I'm not as careful as I thought I was.
I genuinely didn't know where I was going with this but as I was writing I did suddenly think, I wonder if at some point I had put my phone number on my facebook profile, and there it was, when I looked (it isn't anymore). So this illustrates that, at least I think so, we may not be as careful online as we think we are. Certainly in my case I'm sure I carelessly put information out there without thinking. Obviously a lot of the information we put out is useful, for example, by way of cookies as it can give us a more tailored experience, but what do we have to give up to get this convenience. This is a massive debate and some are going to be more willing than others to give up more of their personal information. I think it is about striking that balance, as openness is a good thing in the “right” hands, but in the “wrong” hands it can invade privacy.
Openness eh, it can be a sordid affair