Even even even more on social networking – The Future (rant)

The future is scary, as always. People are already making some very personal data visible to everyone, but what’s next. Loopt already can give information to others where we have been and where we are. And it’s automatic, just login and you are trackable. Everything else that you do on a phone or a computer leaves a digital footprint and thus is traceable (ie. last.fm, what music you listen to; youtube, what videos you watch; what programs you use; who are you calling or sending sms to etc.) You name it the engineers can do it, no remorse what so ever. 23andme and MyBlackbook are probably the scariest ones. 23andme lets the users know their genetics, who are they related to and scary part what kind of risk of getting an inherited disease they might have. First you have to do a DNA test sample and send it to the company, though. Instead of sharing your relationship status or your favourite bands, now you are sharing your entire genetic information to a community. Wow.

MyBlackbook is NOT a social networking site. It’s a place where you log your sexual history, basically the persons you have had sex with. As this not a social network you don’t share the information with anyone, but as weird as this sounds it could very well be interpreted by some other company to such a service.

Lives of others is always an interest to everybody. “Celebrity” is now the most popular profession among teenagers in Finland, when they are asked what they want to be. And being a celebrity in Finland doesn’t pay well, either. The “britneyspearsification” of every human is happening. Andy Warhol’s 15 minutes is enough anymore. Everyone wants to be the most popular digital being of their small circle by posting as many ‘LOLcats’ and ‘Pirates vs. Ninja’ invites as possible, if it means that they get their piece of attention. But just how far people are willing to go?