These days, it seems you cannot escape the online privacy articles that pop up on a daily basis.  Facebook this, Google that, to name a few.  So I decided to poke around my settings.  And what did I find?

Horror of all horror!  Google Documents had listed in my documents, although not shared all the documents that were sent to me as attachment as far back as 2006.  That is, all documents sent to me even before Google Documents existed.  Facebook is notorious for poor privacy settings, loose agreements and never being upfront about what actually is open to its third party allies.  Facebook applications open up doors into your data on your computer that can be used by whomever Facebook chooses.  Sorry, but considering how corporations treat their users these days, that is a no-no in my book.

So I decided to remove everything.  I have removed all the documents in Google Documents that should be there in the first place.  I am removing all posts and comments on my Facebook profile that is not relevant to coaching.  That is gargantuan task.  It is amazing to see how much you can write and in the end, how much of it is really relevant or even remotely interesting?

This makes me wonder, as I am sure many of you also do.  Why are these company treating people’s private intellectual properties like that when they sue anyone who infringes on their private intellectual properties?  If convenience is the reason, then it is not worth it to me.  Another question that begs to be asked is why are these things done without letting users know clearly they have your information, documents and more on their servers?  Even if they are not set to be shared, the very least would be to treat me as a mature and responsible human being by asking me first.  And this is finally the crux, in the name of convenience, we have accepted much too many things that in the end make our social network… not convenient.

In the end, those who understand the nature of computers and certainly that of the Internet do know one thing without doubt, there is no such thing as privacy on the Internet.  The Internet was created to share information, not withhold it.

Things that make you go: “Hummmm…”