Do you really think you have any privacy?

Once again, Facebook is under the gun for privacy issues with their new "Facebook Places" application. Similar to Foursquare (which no one seems to have a problem with privacy wise) people can check in from anywhere using their smart phone and all your friends will know where you are, where you've been and what you're doing as long as they are using the app as well. If you want to disable Facebook Places you can do so from this link on Switched.com.  Me, I don't own a smart phone. I can't afford the ridiculous amount of money providers charge each month to spend ungodly amounts of time updating where I am at any given point in time and space. Who the heck cares where I am anyway? I certainly do not care where Jo Schmo is enjoying his morning cup of coffee and if he is the mayor of the local trendy donut shoppe. Unless Jo Schmo has a job for me, I could care less where he is.

People scream about how their privacy is being invaded and how Google and Facebook are all of a sudden evil hoarders of information and are going to take over the world. Privacy is an illusion, a nifty idea that has long been swept away in the giant wave that is the internet. Facebook is not some benevolent entity, joyfully providing you with a open forum to tell everyone what you crapped in the toilet this morning or that you're now single. It is a business. Facebook, Google and all the other nifty "free" things you sign up for (which btw, erode your illusion of privacy even more) are in it to MAKE MONEY! When will people wake up to the fact there is nothing free! The whole idea behind social marketing is: Become buddies, then hit them with the sales pitch. Facebook knows this, EVERY single operating entity on the internet knows this! It's all about the Benjamins!

My biggest paranoia is Spychips. RFID tags. This is where we should be concerned! Having tracking tags placed in the clothing we buy, and possibly even implanted in our bodies! That is some scary stuff right there.
Katherine Albrecht is a major force against these truly privacy invading monstrosities. Check out her site at http://Spychips.com for some truly eye opening reading.

If you're on the internet, have a social presence ANYWHERE, use a credit or debit card, signed a lease, bought a car or a house, used any sort of customer discount card, bought anything online, filed your taxes, applied for a job or loan, opted in to get emails, joined a forum or group, you've pretty much given all the information you need for anyone to pretty much find anything out about you. You can't hide from it unless you intentionally go 'off the grid' and I really think that's pretty much impossible unless you never had any records about you from birth. I've done reverse phone number look ups, traced IP addresses and googled names. It's too easy.