Surviving Capitalism (Not) : The privacy Machiavellis

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

The privacy Machiavellis

from SF Gate.

Companies like Google and Facebook are increasing compromising their privacy concerns in favor of selling your data to marketing companies. You mistakenly thought that they were providing data information to you and promoting social connections for you--you know, like some kind of public service. That, of course, is the way they started to promote themselves. But both companies are private enterprises, and as such, profit concerns require a different focus. That accounts for this evolution into selling your private information to big corporations.