Never mind the government, it’s Facebook that really creeps me out. As previously mentioned, I found Facebook to be just too goddamn intrusive and annoying, so I ditched my page quite a while ago. I definitely prefer G+. Sadly, there are things like contests that I can’t enter due to a lack of Facebookery, and when I wanted to register for SnagFilms in order to set up playlists and whatnot, I found I had to do it via Facebook.

So, what the hell, why fight the machine? I registered a new FB account using an e-mail address that I don’t really use, and no additional information other than my name. No location, no photos, no likes or dislikes – nothing. Immediately upon registering, I was presented with seven “friend” suggestions. My wife, a guy I used to work with who I haven’t seen in years (good guy, too; nice to see he was able to retire), another guy I went to grad school with (wasn’t really friends or anything, but I knew him), and the “CyberCorps Association,” of which I happen to be an alum.

This creeps me the f*ck out, and I really don’t like it. You wonder how the government can monitor everything about our lives? Easy – they use Facebook (and no doubt have a back door into Amazon and Google, too).

Not that they actually need back doors. I went to a CyberCorps Symposium once (yeah – that’s the kinda guy I am), and one of the speakers detailed how, for $35, he was able to get a report that showed everything he’d purchased on Amazon in the past – which (especially with books and movies) is an pretty good window into a person’s brain.

For $20, he got a list of Social Security numbers that included people like the Secretary of State and the director of the NSA (I wonder if this guy gets the full body scan when he flies?).

So, anyhow, I just plodded through Facebook’s goddamn privacy settings, and tried to anonymize myself as much as possible. They deliberately make it difficult, of course. I guess one doesn’t have the right to complain what with it being free and non-compulsory, but I really wish the US would follow Europe’s lead, and make privacy an “opt-in” thing, rather than an “opt-out.” As in, they can do whatever the hell they want whether you know about it or not, until you find out and tell them to stop (at which point, maybe they will, maybe they won’t).

And, while I’m at it, why the hell should you have to pay for your credit report (beyond the one “free” one you get a year), and have to pay to monitor changes and then get on your knees and beg them to fix shit that’s wrong? I mean, it’s about YOU, and you should be able to get one every day if you want to. And the onus should be on these credit reporting agencies to notify you of any changes and to verify information with you first.

I haven’t had a problem, but the potential for something shitty to happen is always there. In fact, I have a “former” address listed on mine at which I’ve never lived. It happens to be the address of a friend of mine, with whom I purchased a two-family home over 20 years ago (one of my many wonderful ideas). It’s an address he moved to with his wife well after we were out of the landlord business.

You think I can get anybody to change it? Nuck fo. Fortunately he isn’t a criminal or a deadbeat or anything (that I know of).

As computer processing power and storage increases (and the NSA algorithms are improved and refined), things will only get worse – no matter how much we try and comfort ourselves with the notion that half a loaf is better than none. Oh, we have a full loaf. It’s just that half of it’s poisoned – and maybe we’d actually be better off with none.

Obama should know better? He does know better – and is getting exactly what he wants (on healthcare, Wall Street, spying on US citizens, you name it). I’m not saying he’s a traitor, exactly, but shit. I mean, he couldn’t even get a dog from a goddamn rescue. He didn’t have to say he was gonna get one from a rescue or a shelter, but he did. And then he didn’t do it. WTF?

Never trust a man who lies about dogs.

Oh well, today’s Home Woot is a Dyson bladeless fan. Cool, but NFW would I spend hundreds of dollars on a fan. Unless I could get a lot of them, and do this: