Watch What You Say (Redux)

Hi folks -- just a couple of current reminders that people on the internet may, in fact, see what you write in your blogs, social networking profiles and Web pages:

• Indirectly via Fark.com: 18-year old New York Mets draft pick and pitching prospect Scott Schafer is in a little bit of hot water for items of, shall we say, questionable nature on his MySpace page (which has since been cleaned up and tucked away), as well as referring to himself as a Mets team member, even though he hasn't actually been signed yet. (Oh, right, that.)
  
  The Mets are conducting an investigation.
  
  
• Via Metafilter (and others): According to this New Scientist article:

  "...National Security Agency, which specialises in eavesdropping and code-breaking, is funding research into the mass harvesting of the information that people post about themselves on social networks."

  The article branches off into deeper discussions of RDF, the semantic Web, and other concepts that I don't quite have my head around fully, but it suggests that the information that you post about yourself (and that others post about you) will eventually be pooled and harvested in a wide-ranging network of information.
  
  Now, I wouldn't go burning my blogs just yet: Network Analysis is nothing new -- it's pretty much just a way of examining the relationships between individuals and groups of people in organizations -- it can be applied to everything from companies, to governments, to terrorist organizations.
  
  However, it should serve as a reminder to people to be mindful of what you post online, even if you're not worried that you're being watched by the NSA.

Thanks -- Joe

Tag: Busted for Blogging