Facebook + CIA = Big Brother 2.0?
Sometimes I stumble into some pretty interesting things that make me think twice about how I discovered them. Case in point … a conspiracy that claims that Facebook is a front for the CIA to collect data from millions of Americans (and World citizens) in order to aid in their surveillance.
I would like to take credit in coining this new Orwellian term as Big Brother 2.0 where social networks and the Internet are used to spy on people. I do not know exactly how I came around to this conspiracy but it reminds me of the one my friend has about the iPhone being used by the NSA as AT&T being their cover to collect data on American citizens.
Should you entertain any of these ideas? Of course, dwell upon them … debate them and come to your own conclusion. It would be silly to just hop on the bandwagon and claim that Facebook and the CIA are up to no good … at the same time you are just as foolish to ignore the assertion without considering it for a second.
Do I personally think that Facebook and the CIA have teamed up?
The short answer is No but the long answer includes my cynical point of view where I would not be surprised if the CIA or any other intelligence agency used Facebook or any other Social Network to gather information.
Think about it for a second. If Coca-Cola or Apple spend countless of dollars to market and gather information about consumers, what makes you think that intelligence agencies do not engage in similar activities?
In the world of advertising and marketing, it is all about collecting all the information you can about certain demographics and how to implement that intelligence into a successful campaign.
If your prospective employer or potential business client use Google or MySpace to check up on you, what makes you think the U.S. Government does not?
If you think, “Big Brother is Watching You” then I am sad to inform you that he has changed the channel long ago. You were boring and there was nothing else to monitor.
Big Brother in our society is suppose to protect us from harm thus Big Brother or intelligence agencies will be monitoring unusual activity such as potential terrorists or criminals. This most likely is not you.
Instead I think we are Big Brother like the CBS show has implied. We watch countless hours of Reality TV and that does not include the amount of time we devout to watching YouTube clips of some guy dancing or dogs sleeping.
You see … we are Big Brother watching each other and monitoring ourselves through Social Networks and the Internet. Complacency is the standard and conformity is expected. You don’t have a Facebook account? You are weird? No, MySpace? Talk about not cool.
At the end of the day I participate in this wonderful world of the Internet and Social Networks not because I am paranoid that “they” may be collecting my information but because it is the only way that I feel at this point in my life that I contribute back to society.
I wish I could have written a book or produced a movie but my contribution to history so far is this blog. I am not that fun to watch … just ask Big Brother.