If you are user of Facebook, you have undoubtedly been hit by changes to the privacy policy over the services existence. One such change is that you really aren’t in control of your information. Coupled with the fact that Facebook and Facebook Friendly sites use “Facebook Connect” and you have the sharing of information or at least an understanding by third-party sites, of your actual identity even though you first visited the site in anonymity.
One day, you visit a site and you are known as AverageJoeUser, and the next, because the site now uses Facebook Connect, you are automatically logged into the site as ActualJoe, and any postings you may have posted also switched to ActualJoe. Those posts calling out the idiocy of some internet troll are now public and you don’t care what you said, but unsocialized internet troll does and he/she might actually be gunning for you.
For all of the benefits of Facebook and social networks, the interoperability of the information is the greatest detractor. Anonymity online isn’t necessarily because you want to say or do things without repercussions, it may be that you don’t want the great internet unknowns to find you because you have a counter opinion. And as anyone involved in politics knows; a wrong opinion can have your gas lines cut when someone puts the wrong address down on Facebook, or a brick thrown through your window, or you can be spit on for your choices. THAT is the reason for internet anonymity. To protect those who want discussion but not violent confrontation. It is what separates humans from the animals. A person may not mind confrontation, but ending up in jail because you defend yourself and it turns into a he-said, he-said discussion before police, attorneys, judges, and ER technicians isn’t high on the list of any stable minded person. Again, that Anonymity is what protects people from harm. It also empowers everyone who would normally live under a rock to spout whatever vitriol they desire with relative impunity.
As Facebook creator, Zuckerberg, says that the age of privacy is over, and Facebook is doing a very good job of encouraging that, and flying it in the face of the 400 million inhabitants of the site who visited it in the last 30 days. That said, I’ve also automatically logged into other accounts that have the same “Single Login” concept in place; and at least once, they changed my anonymous musings into my real name. I left that site not because my comments were negative or could lead to someone knocking on my door, but because “I” am in control of my data. And for all of the anger that people have towards their data being shared with the Federal government, you have to understand that 99.99% of the population has nothing to worry about from their Government [other than they don't do what YOU want them to do, which is a vote away from changing]. They have more to worry about from the companies [websites] that gather every nuance of your life and sell it to the highest bidder.
You can read about what spurred this comment into creation, by visiting ReadWriteWeb.com and the article named “Facebook May Share User Data with External Sites Automatically.“
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