Big Brother

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Facebook has recently opened the "platform", so now users can add a whole range of gadgets and gizmos to their profile page. As I like things kept simple, this is a slight disappointment to me, but it will at last allow me to add information from last.fm, like my charts or the last tracks I listened to (just like I have now on Thunderbozz).

In the course of browsing last.fm's forums, I came across the thread discussing Facebook integration and the following comment caught my eye:

"Facebook... insists on real names, and usually has other details of real life identities, like work and education. [But] I like to keep a bit of breathing space between my online identity and my real one."


Which, combined with me updating all the websites I'm registered to with my new e-mail address, got me thinking: how much could you find out about me from the web?

Well, finding out my name is easy because you can find that linked to from this very page. Indeed, reading this blog will tell you where I live, what university I go to, which courses I'm doing and have done. You could work out who I know and who I'm friends with. You could find out what music I like and even what I'm listening to right now. All that without having to guess a single password or username. Imagine how much info all the websites have on me in total: when and what I bought at Boots, the Co-operative, Sainsbury's and BP, what music I buy, what searches I've done on the map, what I spend my money on, who I talk to... scary stuff.

Having said all that, I quite like the fact that I know how many people read this every week (not many!) and where they all live. Plus, it's all my own doing. If you don't want all that information out there, don't put it on the internet...

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