Get out of my Facebook

BY STEVE JANOSKI

It was in the English dystopia depicted in the 2005 movie "V for Vendetta" that I first saw the ideals enumerated in Orwell's "1984" come to life, as agents of a repressive government rode around in vans monitoring private citizens' phone conversations while "fingermen" patrolled the streets at night looking for those who violated curfew.

Being what one might call a vicious civil libertarian who sees the threat of the iron heel's descent behind every governmental policy, I was always terrified at the prospect that such a thing might occur, and that movie's depiction of how, and why, it could happen, were ringing all too true at the time.

But, just a few short years after the film was made, Americans, in their infinite wisdom, have already made roving vans and telescreens not only unnecessary, but magnificently obsolete by incorporating Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and a plethora of other oddly-named Internet sites into their daily lives.

Now, the government doesn't have to spy on its citizens, because people are so willing to voice every feeling about every mundane event that even the most stringent monitor at the Ministry of Love would say, "Jesus, shut up already, I just don't care."

I too am guilty of having a Facebook, although I am extraordinarily difficult to track down and use it for little more than posting Iron Maiden videos or Bill Murray quotes. But still, I'm on it, and I must admit that it's entertaining and has its uses.

However, what frightens me is that our willingness to share our thoughts has come at a price, and that's been illuminated by a recent Associated Press article on what is becoming an increasingly common practice of employers: demanding prospective employees' Facebook logins during interviews in order to further "vet" candidates.

According to the article, the practice occurs more frequently when applying for jobs in fields like law enforcement, but it's expanding to the private sector as well.

Sears, for example, uses a "third-party application to draw information from the profile, such as friends lists," as a way to stay "updated on the applicant's work history."

While this might be enough to convince some applicants (like me) to walk out and tell Sears what they can do with their friend request and third-party applications, in an economy that remains somewhat rocky, not everyone is in a position to turn down jobs that provide a near-living wage.

Inevitably, some will say that this is what we get for being a part of the digital age. Facebook is an Internet site, one which is neither secure or private, and what's done there is akin to leaving your bedroom blinds open all the time...along with the windows open. After sending binoculars to all of your neighbors.

But regardless, that does not give government agencies or private companies the right to get around the privacy settings that we are able to set up.

These are frightening legal questions that are straying into new territory, and it's likely that it will take lawsuits, decisions, appeals, and more decisions before a clear line is drawn on what exactly is public and what is not in regards to social networking sites.

The American public must have some say in this. Now is the time that the citizenry, which is so prone to overreact on the mundane and so willfully ignorant about the important, must overreact in the sharpest way to this kind of invasion of privacy in order to stop it where it stands.

We have seen what can happen when all care or want of privacy ceases to be a concern - a quick look at the citizens of Great Britain, a kingdom already under Big Brother's watchful eye, provides the starkest illustration.

And as a nation that values personal freedom and self-reliance (even if we rarely practice the latter), we do not want to head in that direction.

Once, being "off the grid" meant that that you lived in a cabin, drank rain water from barrels, and burned candles instead of light bulbs. Now, it's claiming that you don't have a Facebook and admitting that you have no idea how to clearly read a Twitter feed.

Consider me "off the grid."

Email: janoski@northjersey.com

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