Big Brother Is Watching

The year is 1984. You are a prole in the country of Oceania, lower class. Or is it 2012? And you are in America, say, an average middle class citizen. You use social networks - Facebook, Twitter, maybe Pinterest and LinkedIn for professional encounters. You sometimes stop to think of the ramifications that the Internet has brought into your life, but not usually for more than a passing second.

As things get ever more Orwellian and technology throughout the world grows and changes, does anyone get the feeling that "the times they are a changin'?" Facebook recently acquired Face.com, a facial recognition software company. Whether the company plans to use this software to drive engagement on the site is unknown at this time according to Mashable. It has been revealed, however, that Facebook has been using the software to analyze user photos for about a year and a half. 


There are plenty of concerns I have about Facebook using this software to learn my face. For one, if Facebook can see my face, it means they can see what I'm wearing and what products or objects are in pictures of me. This equals even more targeted advertising on Facebook, which is great for those who really enjoy those types of things, but personally I think it's an invasion of my privacy to see targeted ads. I don't want a database to know what I like, or where I am, etc. 


Another issue I have with Facebook using this software to analyze photos is that it basically creates a gigantic database with pictures and information for everyone all over the world that can recognize who you are without . I know this sounds paranoid, but if that information was to venture into the wrong hands, anything could happen. All it takes is one incident. 


Though social media has done wonders for connecting people throughout the world, this is not one of them. The more social media corporatizes and gets away from what I believe to be its central purpose - to connect people all over the world, not entice them with advertising and analysis - the less it works. People don't want to have their entire lives pored over by complete strangers (but maybe some people do it enjoy it!).