Saturday, December 4, 2010

What's Private....should stay Private

I know WikiLeaks has been on the news everyday over the past weeks.  And I am aware that many of us have no idea what WikiLeaks is.  Many thought (my mother to say the least)  WikiLeaks was a part or division Wikipedia, but it's not.  WikiLeaks is website that has positioned itself as the site to search for sensitive materials both public and private.  It is important me to inform you that the website wasn't operating rogue; WikiLeaks has won a number of awards, including the 2008 Economist magazine New Media Award.

None the less the website is known for Whistle-blowing and has found itself in the center of attention again. To only find that as of Friday the website was SHUTDOWN. 
Why the mandatory shutdown?  Sources suggest WikiLeaks was preparing to unveil a new set of bigger US secret documents.  And these documents would make the past releases on Afghanistan and Iraq look like child’s play.   It is the latest in a long list of "leaks" published by the secretive site, which has established a reputation for publishing sensitive material from governments and other high-profile organizations.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10757263

So if the long arm of the law can shutdown a mega site as WikiLeaks, it's clear to me that other things should be censored.  But it should be censored or filtered by “us”.  When we post to Facebook and tag photos of ourselves and friends, are we putting too much out there?  What's private?  If I take photo at friend’s party, I know my friend and I will have copies of that photo.  This doesn’t mean I want to be TAGED on Facebook.  Do me a favor, post the picture—respect me—respect my privacy—just mention your name and not mine.  Twitter works the same way if your privacy settings aren’t enabled.  At least with twitter I know my message is shared among many, but I don't want my location to be public knowledge.  Did you know if you are a resident of NC and you tweet in NYC, Twitter will show your location?  Ugh....this is too much.  Just call the robbers and have them head to my house.  Twitter isn't the only mobile device that uses Geo Tracking, so does Foursquare.  I don't care if my messages enter cyber world, but not my location.  Private moments should stay private.

Nana Says, "After you put words out into the universe--you can't take it back."  Well Nana, I understand that and I try really really hard to be mindful to my words, but I can't control the Zack and Brenda’s (these are actual friends names & are only used as a name. They have not posted any unwanted photos :) ) filtering process.  There is no way to filter information that friends but out there. Or not?  Are we now forced to filter friends?  First WikiLeaks now Friends on Facebook pages. UGH

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