Surfacing
I've been thinking about opening a Facebook account for quite a while now, but thanks to the largely negative publicity they've received regarding their privacy policy, I am less inclined to do so.
I'm still from a segment of paleo-hackers who believes very strongly in the Internet as a giant collective of effort - a sort of equalizing community where the power of one's vision counted more than the amount of one's currency. I believed it had the power to change the world drastically. To a certain extent, I've been right about that: it has created a global creative community, albeit one that stands apart from their local surroundings, mostly by displaying imagination. And large segments of capitalist business have been...well, "negatively" impacted is only a true statement from the point of view of those on the losing side of the evolution (in the press, pornography, music, and the like). I've also been wrong about a few things, too.
Anyway, the point is, joining a "free" online community and discovering that the hidden cost of your admission is to become that company's commodity are just repugnant notions to me, and I don't wish to participate.
Some of that old spirit might be coming back. There is a new concept for a bit of social networking software called Diaspora which looks interesting. It's not yet ready for prime time, but my feeling right now is that I'll hold out and see what that brings.
There is a cost to this, however, and that is that I've removed myself from the mechanism of the usual social circles, so no one remembers who I am or what I've been doing lately. I'm not blaming anybody for that except for me - I haven't had the cycles lately to keep up with everyone, which is what you sort of consign yourself to when you go silent on the network and try to do it all manually...
It'd be nice to change that, so if you're so inclined, drop me a note here and say hi, tell me what's up, or tell a dirty joke, or demand that I take you out and buy you ice cream. (That last one for papertigers.)
I'm still from a segment of paleo-hackers who believes very strongly in the Internet as a giant collective of effort - a sort of equalizing community where the power of one's vision counted more than the amount of one's currency. I believed it had the power to change the world drastically. To a certain extent, I've been right about that: it has created a global creative community, albeit one that stands apart from their local surroundings, mostly by displaying imagination. And large segments of capitalist business have been...well, "negatively" impacted is only a true statement from the point of view of those on the losing side of the evolution (in the press, pornography, music, and the like). I've also been wrong about a few things, too.
Anyway, the point is, joining a "free" online community and discovering that the hidden cost of your admission is to become that company's commodity are just repugnant notions to me, and I don't wish to participate.
Some of that old spirit might be coming back. There is a new concept for a bit of social networking software called Diaspora which looks interesting. It's not yet ready for prime time, but my feeling right now is that I'll hold out and see what that brings.
There is a cost to this, however, and that is that I've removed myself from the mechanism of the usual social circles, so no one remembers who I am or what I've been doing lately. I'm not blaming anybody for that except for me - I haven't had the cycles lately to keep up with everyone, which is what you sort of consign yourself to when you go silent on the network and try to do it all manually...
It'd be nice to change that, so if you're so inclined, drop me a note here and say hi, tell me what's up, or tell a dirty joke, or demand that I take you out and buy you ice cream. (That last one for papertigers.)