invasion of privacy pisses me off.
And no, I'm not excusing myself from past venting about some offline acquaintance's issues online. Don't think I didn't learn from the experience, or that I no longer think I was justified in doing so.
Anyway, here's my rant this morning. Discuss…
I blog semi-regularly at several places: Here, Live Journal, and WordPress. I admittedly spend most of my time at WordPress these days because, frankly, my private life is mellow enough these days that I don't have to rage about it to my personal online diaries.
I've learned my lesson about making many of my personal issues public. Which is why my Live Journal is now friends only, I have occasional "preferred readers only" posts here at Myspace (I have a lot of offline friends here who won't log on anywhere else, and I have to do what I can to accomodate them), and leave all of my ranting and raving on public issues (such as music and politics) at WordPress (I've gotten so many hits on that blog, I'd just assume not put anything that would leave my personal life open to scrutiny there. Even a request to enter a password to read an entry over there would bring on temptation and/or ill will).
WordPress now has the ability for it's bloggers to track referrals to their blogs, what blog posts get the most posts, and what search terms were used to find the blogs.
One thing I'm seeing that troubles me is that the phrase "hacking friends only blogs on Myspace" keeps coming up in the search terms used to find blogs.
If you pop a phrase similar to this into google, you get these results. Mostly having to do with CSS workings and the use of scripts to either change the way your Myspace looks, to get rid of ads above, and/or to get around someone hiding their list of friends and blog entries on their page.
But to the guy asking on some remote hackers' bbs, "I need to hack "friends only" blogs…any way I can do that?", all I have to ask is, uh, why?
Of course there's always some agenda to this. Usually, I believe it must boil down to finding out "what that son of a bitch said about me" (this should be particularly true among vendetta-charged teens). For some the concept of privacy is some kind of joke. For still others, maybe an ex-lover (or perhaps a current one) needs to be put in their place. Maybe a corporate snitch wants some blood. It could be a myriad of things.
What it comes down to is that there's always someone, somewhere, who wants in on your personals. It's not cool, and it's not right, but it happens. And it's up to whomever has the blog being targeted to make sure their stuff is as secure as possible. CSS trappings won't do it. And apparently, in my own search for "friends only" blog hacks, there appear to be none in the offing. At least not yet.
So my private treates to my friends Leah, Steve and a few others, for now, are safe.
In the grander scheme of things, does it really matter what one says to others behind closed doors? Does it really matter if it's about you, if NOONE else is looking at it? Surely, if it bothers you that someone is talking about you online, consider the current dilemmas facing Brangelina. Then, perhaps, these whispers behind closed doors, wouldn't be so bad.
Sure everyone's life, at some point or another, becomes an open book, but shouldn't the person in charge of the book have a right to decide when that book should be opened or not?
This is why, for the most part, gossip columns never appealed to me, and they appeal to me even less now that our society has gotten more celebrity obsessed. Sure, people pay to entertain you, but once the cameras turn off or the stage lights go up, they have just as much of a right to a private life as anyone else. Same with someone with a private blog. And no script kiddie or hack junkie can ever change those determinations to keep one's private life private.
D-Tags: Bitchings, Musings, My Own Damn Opinion
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3 responses so far ↓
Bonnie // January 22, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Everyone has a reason. Some may be more valid than others. My friend and her husband are worried about her husband’s ex-wife and their 4yr custody battle. She used to say nasty things on MySpace, and had pictures of the kids up along with her drinking/smoking pot and her blogs were mostly filthy lies against him and brags about her illegal exploits. A hack for something like that wouldn’t just be none of his business, because it affects his kids. Instead he has to do a he-said/she-said, with his witnesses called “biased” by her lawyer and her dressed to the 9s in court playing “poor single mother”.
Lisa // July 22, 2007 at 9:14 am
It seems you do not understand what can be said on myspace. The innocent often are targeted by people who wish to cause them problems. My situtation is one of these. My boss recently added a person to her myspace who often posts “friends oly” blogs that trash me. I need the ablity to read them so I will know what to expect at work.
bigstarlet // July 22, 2007 at 3:55 pm
Not to sound insensitive, because I’ve had people trash me in private entries as well, but while it doesn’t feel good, in the end, it’s just two or three people reading and either agreeing or disagreeing, not the WHOLE FUCKING WORLD!
So, really, who cares?
What I mean is, what should someone’s words being read by maybe two, three or 4 dumbasses matter to you? In the grander scheme of things, your actions and whatever goodness you exhibit toward others speak louder than any derogatory bullshit shared between two petty little parties on a Myspace friends-only blog. Maybe you should not be so concerned about what others say of you and concentrate on doing your job/maintaining a positive life. Perhaps you should also consider that your boss added this person to her myspace so that she could see what sort of nasty things this person is saying about you (and/or her other coworkers) in her “Friends-Only” blogs and act accordingly?
There is a phrase for folks who get fired for saying vile things about their job and/or their associates on their blogs (on Myspace and/or elsewhere). It’s called “getting Dooced”. Look it up, and stop worrying.
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