Total Information Awareness

Though Facebook is a social network website, and not simply a forum for microblogging, it is a type of status update to use the Facebook Place to tell people where you are at any given moment. This is a new feature added last week by Facebook, and so far many people have been updating their places just as often as they update their status--microblog overload! BrightKite is one of many new location based social networking services that let people communicate by microblogging pictures of their current location, and where they are. There are three basic reasons for using this specific type of microblog: it can be a lackadaisical diary, it can be used the same geo-caching is used but with cool travel as the reward, or it can be used to plan get togethers and spontaneous, impromptu events. The service is another example of consumer's guiding the development of a product. Since last week when Facebook released Facebook Place, I have been reading the Place feed, as much as I read the update statuses. While some might immediately become worried that a one could be stalked by such an application, the American Civil Liberties Union sees this type of technology as part of a larger threat. The pentagon's "total information awareness" allows "government officials easy, unified access to every possible government and commercial database in the world." While travel patterns were already included under the Patriot Act, this new type of government surveillance can use facebook place feeds and information from BrightKite, or any other location based social network service as part of the creation of a portrait of any person, even if they are not suspected of a crime. I think we would all agree that video surveillance is one thing, but when the average Joe is at Wal-Mart he doesn't expect the pentagon to be aware that he is shopping for dog food and canoe paddles. Most people don't consider their daily actions to be important enough to be part of a federal investigation, but they do consider these important enough to tweet about them to the whole world. Boy do we live in funny times!