Facebook's privacy bait and switch

The year after that, the owner reserves the right to enter the apartment on a regular basis and throw a huge party for all his friends. You and your friends are also invited, of course. Don’t like it? Well, you know how to find the door.

The next year the owner tells you he’s planning to throw parties pretty much all the time. And he’s told his friends they should feel free to go through all your stuff. You’ll be able to keep some of your stuff private by locking it in a closet, but the closet is small and hidden in a crawlspace, so you may have trouble finding it. But he assures you he’s only doing this because deep down inside he knows you really want him to let a bunch of strangers paw through your stuff, even if you’ve never said anything remotely like that. Also, he gets paid every time someone finds something of yours they like.

Is it time to move yet?

Yes, Facebook is free. Yes, it offers many unique and useful services, as well as a lot of useless dreck. Yes, it needs to generate revenue for these free services. But what Facebook is offering now isn’t what most of us signed up for. This isn’t the original agreement. It’s mutated, and not in a survival-of-the-fittest way -- more like a ‘slime mold that’s threatening to eat the earth’ kind of way. The future does not bode well.

Also: You want to live your life in public, Bob, you go right ahead. But please, spare us the pictures.

Author Dan Tynan blah blah Facebook blah blah Twitter blah blah blah temporary restraining order blah blah thrown out for lack of evidence. Follow his other shenanigans on Twitter (@tynan_on_tech) or his award-winning geek humor site, eSarcasm.