You get the privacy you deserve

The controversy surrounding the iPhone app “Girls Around Me” is understandable – but manufactured. While the now-defunct app allowed users to find women using GPS, their Facebook profile photos and FourSquare check-ins, the backlash over the amalgamation of publicly available information ultimately doomed the app. And while I can’t argue that’s a bad thing – it was rather creepy, wasn’t it? – I’d rather argue a variation of the quote attributed to French philosopher Joseph de Maistre: the people get the privacy they deserve. If you choose to put your life online, do not be surprised if others take advantage of it. Amalgamation apps like Girls Around Me will continue to surface — so keep your privacy locked down. Facebook’s privacy options are notoriously difficult to navigate but take the time. I’ve never had time for FourSquare, and if you value your privacy, neither should you. There are a variety of settings you can massage to get the personal safety and peace of mind you require, or you can perform the ultimate act: social suicide. In the case of Facebook, you can close your account, but your personal information is retained just in case you change your mind. At The Web 2.0 Suicide Machine, you feed it the usernames and logins of your social media accounts. It then entry-by-entry deletes everything you’ve ever done. It works for Facebook, Twitter, and Linked In.

And if you can’t part with your social media ways? Consider using something other than a photo of yourself for your profiles. After all, the people who are important to you already know what you look like, right?