Privacy? Really?

Watching CNN always remind me of a dream that i had. To be a newscaster, to be an anchorwoman, to have a one hour show in my name. Can't tell you how much it flatters and fuels my ego when my classmate refers me as Oprah. Ok..talk show host or anchorwoman..i'm flexible!

But then my childhood dream( still is my dream) is not the point in this entry. While i was listening to CNN and also multitasking at the same time, something caught my ears..the host ( a particularly good looking one) was commenting on how social media is actually stripping our privacy.

Interesting i taught. And out of boredom, i decided to verify for myself if it is as easy or more difficult that what they told us. Of course, i'm just playing the role of a nosy person and not super good hacker, guess that is a whole new context.So where best to start but Facebook!

I started typing in a name.Half of us on fb allows only friends to see our wall and our info. But still i come across an account of "Someone" that allows me to see everything..wall..posts...photos..friends..u name it.

I sure never meet this person before..but imagine what i can find out via facebook. A complete stranger can see where you're from..where do you live..where do you study..whats your mother's name, sister's name..when is your birthday..And all of these are in the first glance..

If i look deeper..i can tell what course are you doing..what club/society you're in..who is your room mate..which hostel you're in..who's your best buddies..your relationship status..

At this point of course, my patience run out. But i think it is clear to everyone how we're exposing bits and pieces of ourselves via social media like facebook, twitter and even our blogs. People can find out so much about us with a few clicks..that is assuming you leave a virtual footprint which would include more than 80% of the gen y. After all, there's got to be a reason why Mark Zuckerberg is so so rich. That's not the end yet..if i'm a hacker (hypothetically speaking)..credit card info, all your purchase be it books or movie tickets will be at the back of my hand.

We gotta realize with a tool that helps us to record our lives and interact with others, we are also inevitably stripping ourselves of our privacy.It is ridiculous to deactivate an account..ask any of the current users. Most will ridicule this idea because we have built either useful or huge virtual network. You got to understand the charm of connecting with people from ALL over the world for FREE and in such an interactive way.

So i know it is impossible to leave social media behind,it will be like discarding our cherished memories altogether( anyone remembers friendster?). But do yourself a favor, at least go look into your privacy setting and see if you're okay with it.

Lucky for my case study, i am just a blogger not a virtual stalker.