Mark Zuckerberg Thinks Privacy Is For Old People

by Glynnis MacNicol | 9:56 am, January 11th, 2010

» 1 comment

According to the Constitution you have to be 35 years old to be elected President. There is obviously no such regulation for social media moguls — despite the ever increasing power they wield over our daily lives — though judging from some recent comments from Facebook head Mark Zuckerberg maybe there should be.

Speaking at the Crunchie awards in San Francisco this weekend 25-year-old Zuckerberg told the crowd that privacy should no longer be considered a “social norm.”

“People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people…That social norm is just something that has evolved over time.”

Or at least Zuckerberg’s definition of it has, which might also explain why the recent change in privacy settings was implemented with such a heavy, oblivious hand….this is the new norm! Which of course is true in the sense that thanks to Facebook privacy is likely not a social norm for most people under the age of twenty-five. Privacy, however is very much a social norm for most people over the age of 25 and/or who do not live in college dorms. Alas, with the increasing prevalence of Facebook it would seem all of its 350 million users — not just the under-25 ones — are increasingly at the mercy of mindset of a generation who grew up sharing. Like it or not if Zuckerberg has his way, our online social lives may never actually get out of college.

Big Brother, Facebook, Guardian UK, Mark Zuckerberg, Online Privacy, social media

http://www.facebook.com/people/Joe-Callan/100000200979966 Joe Callan

“Like it or not if Zuckerberg has his way, our online social lives may never actually get out of college.”

Yeah, what a control freak. How dare he, what with his creating a free service and forcing us to use it.

The consumer victim-mentality is getting way out of hand. If you don’t like the service, don’t use it. First off, the best way to assure that your private information isn’t being passed person to person on Facebook is to *not have an account*. In fact, this solution is so easy that even Gen-Xers and Baby Boomers can understand it! Ready?

1) Don’t sign up for a Facebook account.

Wow! Couldn’t be simpler, right? You don’t even have to use a keyboard or a mouse! But let’s say you LIKE Facebook, and you just don’t want any compromising information or photos passed to people without your knowledge. What then? Here’s another solution. It’s not as easy as the first, and it requires a little due diligence, but here goes:

1) Don’t post compromising information or photos on your Facebook account.

So is it really that ALL of Gen-Y “doesn’t care” about our lives being public, or do some of us just have a more intimate respect for the fact that if one doesn’t want something to be seen/read/talked about, one shouldn’t post it to one’s Facebook/Tumblr/Twitter in the first place? (Disclosure: I’m 26, sort of on a cusp. Not old enough to be a true Xer, but old enough to talk like an old man and despise the rest of Gen-Y).