Tinfoil Hats: Privacy Haute Couture

The tinfoil hat is the hallmark of a conspiracy theorist. With the background-level paranoia surrounding the Facebook privacy settings, I'm considering making one myself. The designer ones are such a rip off. Old-school conspiracy theorists believed that the government had a file on absolutely everyone, kept somewhere like Area 52.

Area 51 is for amateurs.

But now we willingly upload a whole heap of stuff willingly, free to be perused by just about everyone. The government doesn't have to do a thing: its all there - tagged, bagged and open for business. And people complain about privacy? Facebook isn't exactly the digital equivalent of a Swiss bank. My account got hacked the other day. Luckily my Facebook account doesn't include any vital information, like my bank account details. But I'm broke anyway, so that doesn't matter.

Privacy isn't a right - it's a strategy. Look at your Facebook privacy settings: they're not sophisticated but they work well enough. If you don't want to be tagged in embarrassing photos, change your settings! Or untag yourself. If you don't want to have your Mum or your boss finding out about that guy/girl/??? you woke up next to in bed last Saturday, don't add them! Or don't post about it, either works. Your profile only has as much stuff as you put in it. Yes, you can find out who's been looking at your profile but unless you're particularly paranoid, it doesn't matter that much.

If a teenager can hack into the Pentagon mainframe, Facebook doesn't stand a damn chance. When you close your profile, just ask them to wipe your info. You do have a right to do that. Same applies to MySpace, which is like the AUT of social networking.

Like I said, privacy is a strategy. Everyone has a digital footprint, and some people have bigger shoes than others. If you don't want people to tread on your private little Facebook toes, don't give them the opportunity to.

Personally, I wear heels.