Alright, so this wasn't supposed to be another jeremiad on the challenges we face with integrating blogging into society.
It was supposed to be a light-hearted followup to my "Won't Someone Think of the Children?"
entry, illustrating the potential risk of revealing too much personal
info online by pointing to one of my favorite comic strips:This is an excerpt of Sunday's Pearls Before Swine, where Zebra explains how he blogs about avoiding the attacks of his crocodile neighbors, who are trying to eat him.
This information is very popular with other Zebras, for obvious reasons.
But what happens if the crocodiles find out? You'll have to view the comic to get the punch line. [Update: The comic is no longer accessible, so I'll spill the punch line: The crocs are too dumb to figure out how to use the computer, which is not necessarily a luxury you'll have when you blog.]
I was reminded of something said by commenter reachingperfect,
who explained how some teens he knew suddenly lost interest in blogging
when their English teacher started reading and commenting in their
blogs. (Presumeably, until they created password-protected blogs.)
Part of what's going on here is the old "look at me/don't look at me!" dynamic, where you want to be out there and you want people to see what you have to say -- you just don't want the wrong people
to see (where the "wrong people" is an ever-changing and growing list
of people that could include your mom, your mortal enemy, your friend
you made snarky comments about, your future employer, your parole
officer, your high school classmates who you made "terroristic threats about", etc.)
However, information is information, and it can be used by all kinds of people -- good, bad and indifferent.
There was a story last week (as seen in Blog Herald) about how a killer may -- very important, this is speculative -- have used info on his victim's blog to track her.
Now,
again, we don't want to overreact to things that could possibly happen
if the bad people see your blog. But we also don't want to understate
things.
I mean, the Terminator
used the phone book to slaughter a bunch of Sarah Connors, but you have
to judge for yourself if you want to get an unlisted phone number to
protect yourself from time-traveling cyborg assassins.
Similarly,
if you're a murderer, or at least planning a murder, you probably don't
want to write about it in your blog, unlike this Japanese high schooler and suspected mother-poisoner. (via Waxy.org)
Anyway,
I want to end this entry on a positive note, so I will also how the
blogosphere is also good at unmasking deceit, such as a David Cross impersonator,
who uses his resemblance to comedian and 'Arrested Development' star
David Cross to score free drinks and starstruck co-eds (though fellow
comedian Susie Felber notes that it was probably less the co-eds and more the drinks.)
Included for your reference is Gawker's Guide to Telling David Cross Imposters, featuring tips from the man himself.
Talk to you later. Thanks. -- Joe
Tag: Busted for Blogging
Monday, November 7, 2005
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31 comments:
Excellent entry! So what they are saying Zebras are smarter than crocs? Hmmm? :-) They better watch out the Croc. Hunter will be after them for slandering their character! HA! Ya, that is why I was not too thrilled about that map with people's faces. Just not sure on that. I had someone all upset with me because I don't put my picture on my All About Me. I think everyone should respect other's right to privacy. Also, it is interesting how people right away think differently if they know your gender, cultural/ethnic background, age ETC.
Good entry. Some of the most interesting entries I come across in J-land are the "My mom reads my blog" ones. Equally traumatic are the "My significant Other reads my blog" entries. The spouses often take their blog private.
You just never know who's reading along.
ya teens want privacy. I dont think younger than teens should be one without monitoring them.Wow Joe, I don't know bout your murdering perosn in Japan...
What do you think the best use or direction for a blog is/
huggs,natt
i just want you to know, trying to make blogs illegal is completly retared, thanks
I had the problem of my boss reading my journal (I hate the word blog) and seeing that I used his full name and the term "a**hole manager" in front of it. It didn't go over well. I don't do that anymore.
i luv that comic, btw!! but my little brother(who is 8yrs old) has a blog, but my fam has all this web protection stuuf, so only ppl who kno his s/n can im him. y cant ppl do that?
I had that problem! A school administrator had actually printed our pictures off of myspace!! Were in college come on now! let us live a lil! anyhoot we looked up our entire school and found there were a good 700 some odd people on myspace. So he had to be one heck of a stalker to find us!
interesting point, but are there not dangers such as this everywhere? like your phone book example. i mean, honestly you cant even walk down a street anymore without taking a risk. i think its good to inform people of the dangers so that they will be cautious when creating a blog and think twice before writing their full name, address and phone number for all to see. but these people put themselves at risks and no blog can be blamed for that. it is just another tool among many that people use to put themselves out there. (but i like the way you think)
ok personally I think that if people want to keep a journal it should be the good ol traditional way of WRITTING IT DOWN IN A BOOK THAT THEY CAN HIDE!!!!!! granted the book might be able to be used in courts but people like predators and bosses and other such people wont be able to go through it. TEens want privacy? They should grab a brain and realize that anyone with half a brain can get on most of these blogs and read it. Friend or foe it doesnt matter, what they write down will be read by someone.
thats nastayyyy
my bad like griffen said
I liked the article and you brought up some very good points. I also had something similar happen to me that happened to luvmort. I put something on a message board about my job once and was basically told that if they were to ever find out for sure that I was the one that posted it I would probably get fired for it. Looking back I really wish I hadnt done it because that was one of the best jobs I ever had. People do and say stupid things when they are angry and it always tends to bite them in the ass later on down the line. So I would watch what you post on the internet because you never know whose reading what your saying.
AWEEE leave him alone his tush probably hurts!!!
The Comic is very true... I see that so much in the college life, idiots post blogs about their latest bash not suspecting that the right person reading it can then turn them all in for underage drinking. People don't understand that you need a few more than 2 IQ points to keep from getting caught.
Ok, I am at college I have a blog, and more importantly a webshots account. There are plenty of stories and pictures of underage drinking. My school is fine with it as long as you aren't caught in the act. My RA even saw the pictures and an empty wine bottle in our room. However, a friend of mine's mom was doing some snooping and stumbled upon my webshots. I was pissed but I did take off the pictures of her son. Really, it isn't that big of a deal. Nearly everyone in college is underage drinking, it isn't a big secret.
I have a feeling that the reason most teens have the online journals is because they want the attention, they want people to read them, if they write about their boyfriend/girlfriend they can read it and know the story, if they want people to think they're "cool" they can post about drinking/sex, if they want a person to know they like them, they can post about that...
its all about the attention.
Of course. I totally agree. =) :)
on aim's webpage, there was a teaser with "facebook" on the top tab. i understand that facebook is a bit of a blogging site {not as full-blown as myspace.com}, but i dont see a direct correlation between fbook and the article. anyone want to help me out with this one?
i can't agree anymore...i was looking for the article on drinking in dorm rooms.
for all who are lost cuz they saw the facebook tab... i think aim just fucked up but here's the link- http://www.carolinianonline.com/media/paper301/news/2005/11/08/Opinions/Failure.To.Communicate.Dont.Let.Facebook.Land.You.In.Jail-1048102.shtml?norewrite&sourcedomain=www.carolinianonline.com
As an RA I have to wonder what coused that RA to feel the need to do so much extra work to just get more paperwork ...
dude this had not a whole lost to do with what i clicked on....
I think this guy is right in some ways. You have to be careful to not let the 'crocodiles' see how you, the zebra, plan your 'get-way' from them, but if you don't share you're knowledge with the other 'zebras', how will they survive? You have to take that chance and believe that God won't allow the evil doers to see your helpfulness for others. It's like the old adage, 'Each one...teach one.'
And I'll be praying for the first person who made a response to this blog. I'm sure he doesn't know what race this author is, and if he is white, why would you call him a cracker? I'm black myself and I take offense to that! That's your brother, what's the need for the name calling?
Samantha,
University of South Florida
Tampa, Florida
P.S.
I didn't see a corelation between Facebook and this ad either, but i feel he makes somewhat of a good point.
facebook dominates your blog....fix your link.
Blogs are gonna get people in trouble and its high time somebody put a stop to this nonsense. Im Dr. Norkeiwitckshy with the University of Texas and i have done studies showing that 35% of sexual harassment and rape victims on university campuses are tracked down by a suspect using some or all of the information off of blogs. Dont do it people.
Holy Lord, what about the dorm drinking??
What does this have to do with dorm drinking?
I have a perfect connection between facebook and drinking in the dorms. First off, it seems that the first reply got deleted. Secondly, an RA at my school decided for some odd reason to document some students because there was a picture that seemed to be set in the hall of a wet dorm with certain containers and red cups. I think that these pictures came from a MySpace account which one student had linked to through FaceBook. No one was actually drinking in the pictures, but it was enough for them to be documented. There was a big hullabaloo about it and even a forum event on campus where students could ask questions of the administration. What was worse is that the students that were in this situation were foreign exchange students and most of them were 21. The rule is that you can't consume around anyone that is under 21 and rules are rules and there is no way around them. The big controversy is about something that does not give diffinitive proof (proof of location or consumption in this case), such as a digital picture (which can be altered or set up), be used as evidence. As I've always understood it, you only have to face consequence if you're caught in the act, and pictures are always post-act. Too bad my school is full of Nazi admin like that RA and the director of student conduct. So sad that some kids had to get in trouble over some circumstantial evidence.
Darnit, talk about closing the barn door after the horses are out -- if anyone is wondering, here is my blog entry regarding getting busted for blogging:
http://journals.aol.com/journalseditor/magicsmoke/entries/821
Sorry for the mistake. -- Joe
loved your croc piece :) Hooray for the Zebra's
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