Facebook Partying and the Future of Privacy...

Think of the difference in networking between then and now. Now you can obain personal and accurately up-to-date information about a person directly from that person, who presumably has posted pictures on his or her facebook page to show an evolving appearance over time; has written a "status" update, to let you know that they are currently brushing their teeth, but that 1 hour ago they were watching tv with their 'boo', and that 3 hours ago they couldn't wait to go to the Muse concert tonite, 'bitchezzzzzzzzz'; and that they have just become friends with 3 people you've never heard of and one that you have (your ex-boyfriend); and that they 'liked' someone else's link to a youtube video, which you end up watching and 'liking' also. The best (or worst?) part about all of this is that they will never ever know that you know this much about them because you never had to so much as mention their name in public in order to get this kind of information, much less get into contact with them. These people are referred to as "Facebook Stalkers"... but guess what? We've all done it to some degree or another. Society is developing a fetish for voyeurism, we love to know others' business but we don't want them knowing that we do.

My train of thought got even more interesting when I envisioned what 550 people (my entire facebook friends list) would look like if they were grouped together in a single space at the same time. I've been to small concerts with around 500 people in attendance before, and this was nothing too impressive in comparison to the sold out soccer stadiums of more than 60,000 screaming hooligans I witnessed during the 2006 World Cup. But there is something dramatically more personal and purposeful in having about 500 people in community. You can still see all of their faces, so individuality isn't lost like it is in a stadium of people - yet 500 is just a tad too many to actually keep track of what is happening around you at all times... there is quite a bit that goes unnoticed, despite the relative attainability of it all.

How awkward.

What a concept though. Everywhere you look there is a complete set of memories, each face tells a story, each expression causes a reaction. While most of what happens does go unnoticed, you still manage to take in the following: The bartender is your old soccer coach, the DJ is your nextdoor neighbour, the slutty girl dancing on the pole is your brother's girlfriend's sister that you've always had your eye on. Your ex-girlfriend is grinding with your best friend's uncle in the corner. The guy that does the deliveries for your work is making out with that girl that you once tried to pick up at the pizzeria one cold February evening. Your cousin from Dubai is talking sports with your girlfriend's bookclub members. Two dudes that you've never met, and that probably don't know each other, bumped into eachother and said "What's up?" and then "Wanna go?" and then started a scrap. That bouncer you know from the club downtown that keeps sending you promotional flyers is trying to pull them off eachother. Keshia Chante is on stage -- Yes, I have her on Facebook too... she went to my high school... why shouldn't my party have celebrities in it?

Awesome party... or awesome nightmare?

But isn't this what society is becoming? The electronic, on-line party. You can talk to anyone, at any time, from anywhere. We know anyone's business whenever we want--or don't want, we spend hours looking at pictures of people we haven't seen for more than 5 years trying to figure out if they broke up with their boyfriend so we can make a move, or whether they really did get breast implants - so we can make a move.

Just think of how different life is now than it was 10 years ago, when the best piece of technology in my possession aside from my 35-pound nokia "Brick phone" with interchangeable faceplates was my Tamagotchi. Social networking is moving at a ridiculous pace, and although it all seems manageable and in control right now, we are milliseconds away from crossing that point of no return. I mean, as upredictable as technology changes are... what could possibly be next? They've already tricked us into submitting ourselves and our entire lives to gigantic online databases which NEVER delete anything we post, even if we think we've deleted it (SURPRISE! Facebook keeps a copy of EVERY PICTURE, EVERY POST, EVERY PIECE OF INFORMATION that you have ever posted... even if you've deleted it from your profile).

Kind of makes George Orwell seem like a genius when he discussed the concept of "Big Brother" and the "thought police" more than 50 years ago.... now we just need to figure out who will be using these databases and why, because you gotta think, someone will....

...and so I will leave you with something to think about: The newest application that Facebook is set to launch is one that will allow you to see where your friends are at all times, and for them to see where you are at all times. How? Well, you know that application that allows you to access facebook from your cellphone? well... that would then allow them to use your phone as a tracking device. What? You never thought of this before? You never considered that they know exactly where you are right now and what you're thinking (because somewhere, somehow, you're having a digital conversation--texting, msn chatting, facebook or twitter posting--which is passing through some kind of medium that is presumably monitored by a third party company of some sort--rogers, facebook, the FBI!?!!?)...

Below is a thought-provoking quote from George Orwell's 1984. The basic idea behind it is that there are citizens among us which are responsible for arresting you if you have any curiosities about your life or if you question the government or the state in any way, and these citizens are called the thought police. So pervasive is their power, that they even have the ability of arresting you if they suspect that you are THINKING prohibited thoughts, hence their name. It seems impossible that this could ever happen... but then again, in 1949 (when Orwell wrote this book) it would have seemed impossible that the government could know where you are and what you're doing at all times.... not so crazy-sounding these days is it?

- Muse, 2009

For more information on this topic, check out this video about Google: