Cartoon 771: Spirit of Détente

It seems that people do not have a clue how social networking is used. The younger generations think of it as the latest great entertainment. They should really be thinking of it like “streaking” butt naked down the aisle of a church service.

George Owell, who wrote the book “1984”, would be amazed. It was this book that created the monikor “Big Brother”, the all knowing nebulous entity in society. He would be shocked how we have been willingly seduced in to making things easy for “Big Brother”.

The government, employers and even acquaintances can view what is posted on Facebook pages. People have put the most intimate of details on their pages. It has resulted in arrests, failed employment, and strained relationships. Detailed profiles are built based on what you post and who links to your page. Privacy does not exist.

Over and over again we caution people about what they put on FaceBook. But inevitably they either bare their soul or post something improper. They can not get beyond thinking it is personally theirs instead of an information gathering business enterprise.

It is probably obscured at this point, but one of the initial big investors in FaceBook was the Russians. Who needs secret agents? I am certain every intelligence agency in the world is checking FaceBook. They can learn a lot just from who links to your page. Perhaps the Pentagon has a whole branch dedicated to the effort. It came out they were performing domestic spying and profiling back in 2005. It was controversial and they “sort of said” unofficially they were stopping. A part of that branch today is probably specifically watching for an American revolution or coup d'état. The “Arab Spring” was a wake up call. If it can happen there, it can happen here.

Suppose one of your Facebook friends has a friend that is “a person of interest” of a government agency. Now you too are drawn in. Watch for people disappearing with no explanation and being highly discouraged from asking about it.