Your Own Private Wikileaks

In October 2010, Facebook made available a downloadable zipped archive of your "sensitive information" to any user that wishes to access it. You make a query to the server to prepare your folder and it's available for download within hours. When I finally opened it, I was shocked at what I found.

At 33MB long, it contained all my profile information - past and present - likes, dislikes, comments, posts, photos and videos. Everything I had ever typed into a white field with a blue button marked "Comment" underneath. Interestingly, one can mark the dates of occasions, when significant people entered (and departed) one's life and retrace the origin and evolution of shitty internet memes.

That's all great, but what happens when it gets into the wrong hands?

The package is so convenient, any user that can at least "use" Facebook is able to navigate through it. It's akin to IRC or MSN Messenger chatlogs in that everything written is timestamped and all the links are clickable right from within the (very very) long homepage. If some kind of savvy private investigator or kid with a keylogger nabs your password they can access your complete Facebook record. They'd also need access to your email; but to be honest what kind of stretch is that from getting one's Facebook password? As great the trip down memory lane is, the more chilling it gets as you realize who else might be looking at this information - those we have "authorized" to or not.

Of course, all of this is used to aggregate "targeted ads" with parts of it sold to private corporations. I can't exactly criticize them for their advertising function since I have used it myself. But then again, I've never been privy to the exact information it uses.

Like the tagline of the Social Network suggests, you don't make 500 million friends without making a few enemies and your company most certainly doesn't get a market valuation of $50 billion without selling something. Of course, information is as much of an asset as an abstract financial instrument (like a derivative security - it is essentially ephemeral and may become worthless over time as the market shifts); Facebook will need to figure out new ways of goading new information out of you to keep its targeted advertising relevant. Newspapers and other marketers had to "guess" where trends were heading and who their target demographic was - now the verisimilitude of information that marketers possess to attract potential buyers is phenomenally heightened by Facebook.

So what can people theoretically do with your entire "wall" page, photos and videos? Well, who knows? Assuming you posted whatever you posted for a decent enough reason, you ought to have nothing to fear. Take some comfort if you plan to run for public office; perhaps in the future a "semi-nude Facebook photo" will become the new "I smoked pot but didn't inhale."

With Crystal Clarity

"Every moment waited is a moment wasted and each moment wasted degrades your clarity of purpose."
- David Deida

Though the road has been fraught with obstacles and "bumps," the past month has been one of intense pain and likewise, great self-discovery. Yesterday I was contemplating my life goals and as such, wrote them down. In a nutshell, I wrote three: To be happy as a paid writer, to try my hand at professional filmmaking and to be a world traveler and eventually citizen. Suddenly, in the act of acknowledging my own self-purpose, all petty and immediate concerns washed away. 

As a man, I feel stronger with a mission in mind and achievements to be made. Setbacks are only that - they may add time and frustration to your journey but eventually they are overcome. To be honest, if your computer dies, a girl you like rejects you or a boss chews you out for arriving late for work and you rank those amongst your worst problems then you haven't really got any real problems and are more than likely "awfulizing."

In the current medium-term, it is to finish my Master's and throughout it save enough money to move out of my parents' house once and for all.

I encourage all men to list their life goals, regardless of age and not to dwell on whether they have accomplished them or not. You don't have to do it right, you just have to do it.

(cross posted at It's A Dude Thing)

Itsadudething.com

I've hinted at my next web project for a few weeks now, but I've finally decided to move forward with it.

I've registered the domain itsadudething.com. The thrust of the site is simple - it's a blog and site for men who want to reclaim their masculinity.

Reading a myriad of books on masculinity and manhood, I've come to realize that at least in my life, my masculinity was looked down upon as something shameful. My mother and father both sent out messages during childhood that my manhood was undesirable - that my agency and inner "wild man" as Bly would put it ought to be tamed, muted and exorcised. 

Even society has forced men into a corner. Look at countless depictions of men on television and you'll see them as gormless boobs that don't know their arse from their elbow. Some of them are even rewarded for being clueless (the Ross and Rachel saga from Friends comes to mind.)

Men tell other men they are "whipped" by their women yet their pointed finger points straight back at them. Men are afraid of intimacy and dating because they conflate "respect" with "submission." Some men lead lives of quiet desperation sat in front of the television when they could be living a much more fulfilled life instead.

Men are born free yet everywhere they are in chains.

So working closely with some of my brothers we will write articles about our journey from the "nice guy" to the loving yet assertive integrated male. I also hope to get interviews with men from a variety of occupations to discuss men's issues also. I might make a little cash from it too!

I hope all you dudes (and sympathetic chicks) can join us!