Hey NSA, here’s a freebie for ya. We have become a society entrenched in gleefully revealing private information. So privacy be damned!
We reveal it all. Through status updates, tweets, and photos, we seek “LIKES,” comments, praise, or adoration–and basic relevance through daily validation in social media. We now rely on crafting people’s perceptions of us by our “public brands.” We never think that by doing so we are selling our “privacy soul” at fire sale prices, let alone giving it away for free.
But we are, and we do so by choice. And now we are pissed that someone, Uncle Sam, is looking and collecting our digital profiles. I thought I didn’t friend Uncle Sam? Talk about whiplash.
We elect to sign up for all of these social networking sites and “free” email accounts. However you probably never questioned if your civil liberties were jeopardized by seeing your high school nemesis fat and bloated on Facebook? Apparently not! While seeing their demise nurtures your soul, that simple and small act is desensitizing all of us to what the government is capable of doing.
But wait, I am not a terrorist. I am not a person of interest. So why should I even care? What we freely give up, innocently enough, our government wants to see in the name of protecting us–from basically ourselves. So where does it stop? Who is watching the watchers? Can we trust what we really know? I prefer to roam this planet a wee bit less connected now. Is that bad? And better yet, at this point, is being less connected even possible? Oh and please “LIKE” this!
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