I'm on your Facebook, linking your internets

Ahh lolcats, the world is still a better when I place references to thee in my titles. So having upgraded my knowledge database of the Internet to a patchy 2.1, I decided to look at my mildly neglected bloglines. Sadly it was down for maintenance, so I thought I would peruse techcrunch which I've decided I will often do. When Bloglines is down anyway. That's where I came across/a cropper the latest news that facebook will acting like a gatekeeper/gateway to all things interesting on the web, see the article here.

So how does this affect you and me? Well if you are my friend Phil it means nothing to you, and you will no doubt be chastising me for wasting my time on facebook and not writing my humorous thoughts in my notepad for later telegrams to you. For the rest of my tech savvy interfriends, it means you can now delve even deeper into your 'im interested in your activities on the net, but I don't want to look like I'm interested in your activities on the net' habits. Make sense? partial credit?

Well, Since I have a strict moral code of not using facebook at work, and some sort of hazy rule about doing work at home (a holdover grudge from my uni days no doubt) I have yet to actually test what this will all mean to me. however tech nut Mr Scoble has sussed it all out for me.

But what does it all mean Mr Keith? it Mean to say in that in a Star Trek world, that if the web was like space, and the websites were like planets, facebook would be like the Borg. They would assimilate everything, and your (like)ness would be added to their own. I would write your own, but that avatar on the net, its theirs.

Humor aside, does it mean that facebook is evil? it certainly looks like it is trying to monopolise the way in which people will access the Internet. their nanoprobes will be everywhere. you can even chart your assimilation success! Do I want Facebook knowing everything I do so it can push products and services upon me? Well, do I want to tell my mum everything I do and everywhere I go so she can tell all her friends? Not really. I can see it being good in assisting me find things of interest, but bad in that my web activities are going to be monitored in the extreme. I will of course have to test this myself, but as usual, this Suburbanite is wary of big development moving in.

Darkness!!! Darkness is spreading!

Ahh, yet another humorous obscure reference completed. If Rick James was still with us today no doubt his keen senses would detect the spreading dark web of deceit that malware has wrought upon many an unsuspecting Internet user. So I ask, nay plead, when you are using the Internet adhere to this creed: what Would Rick James do?

Having been an Internet user for quite a while now, I have been able to mostly circumnavigate malicious malware. Sadly, even for such a tech savvy user, even I have succumbed to its dark clutches over the years. Much as I succumb to the distraction of my musical interests taking over at the mere mention of Rick James (truth be told I took a break mid post to search for recordings of the Rick James/Neil Young band The Mynah Birds...with success!).

Anyway, I've suffered trojans over the years, corrupted operating systems, and more viruses that a technical problem. And popups! they are like that annoying street spruiker that hits you up for something that you don't need, and without the proper defences against such intrusions (the line/popup blocker 'your right mate' is a doosy/doozy/doosie for these situations) you may be burdened by some physical and financial strains that you could really do without. That is until you reformat you life to rid yourself of such. Fitness First anyone?

Another I have encountered is friends being 'hacked' in MMORPGs in a way that is more debilitating that an avatar's death. This can go even even further into having your credit card account hacked. Apparently once upon a time my card was used to download a song off itunes. AS IF ITUNES! NAY! A good thing my bank knows of my hardcore hardcopy music collecting habits.

But onto phishing scams. Phishing scams are definitely one of the highlights of the low points of Internet life, with scams to tyrannise even the most trusting of individuals. It really is society gone wrong. They are often hard to spot, but giveaways can be misspelled email addresses, links to unofficial sites, and asking of personal account information. the library is often subject to these sorts of email scams, and personally I have received plenty of random emails from people. More that what I get from actual friends, which is a bit of a worry. I mean these scams seem to be more interested in my life than their human equivalents! Sadly there is always going to be greed in the world, and this is not only a case of being a faceless crime, but often an automated one.

So the latest patch of 2.1 is drawing to a close, and once again I have tried to equate how this new technology applies not only to my work life but also my social/personal life. I've also noted that I seem to add such technologies only slowly to my lifestyle, and with work they are also adopted extremely slowly, which is usually due to Council or Management misgivings on how it is best implemented. It can be frustrating at times but it is important to stick to ones guns on how such services are in the best interests of serving the public, with too much red tape preventing the ability to provide a meaning full service.

So does this mean this blog will end!? Well I actually think I will keep it going, keeping an eye on technology, and interesting ways it affects society. Plus I have grown fond of my own amusing ways I relate to the subject material. So if anyone has enjoyed reading this, congratulations!