Critter's Cave

• @midsouthweather Marble-size hail in Berclair/Grahamwood area in reply to midsouthweather #
• @DanWolken This is why hockey gets no traction – people prefer to watch radar than a hockey game around here in reply to DanWolken #
• @DanWolken Um, Dan, the station doesn't just cover Memphis/Shelby county y'know? How many lives have been saved by a hockey game? in reply to DanWolken #

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• @eagroff My post or their changes? in reply to eagroff #

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• Trying the Seesmic Android widget. Great so far. Had to uninstall an reinstall,but fine since then #
• @jackbrewster 1Password – this is a good thing I take it? in reply to jackbrewster #
• @eagroff I'll go in your place…oh, yeah…oops in reply to eagroff #
• @jackbrewster but at least I'll have a POS that supports HTML5 AND Flash… in reply to jackbrewster #
• @ChrisVernonShow and don't forget we can still make it harder to break! in reply to ChrisVernonShow #
• @jackbrewster something that'll keep your phone off half the decent websites out there in reply to jackbrewster #
• @jackbrewster I'm not deleting my account because friends have linked to stuff on it, but I'm no longer posting there anymore in reply to jackbrewster #

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Today I made my last post to Facebook. I’m writing this post to expound more on my reasons why.

They are radically changing their stance on privacy

Read this article on CNN for details.

This is a big deal. Facebook is couching it in terms of “Transformative” and “revolutionary”, but all they’re really doing is gradually moving control over your personal information from you to them with the ultimate goal of “monetizing” that information – the polite way these days of saying they’ll be making money by selling that information to outside parties.

There is one HUGE part of the announcement that appears to have flown under the radar – and is in my opinion, the most worrisome issue: Facebook is dropping the requirement for Facebook App developers to delete your personal information after 24 hours! This means EVERY SINGLE APP you have authorized now can harvest your information and they are not required to delete it! If you want to know how scary that is, follow the steps in the linked Lifehacker.com article to view every app you’ve authorized to have access to your personal information. I suspect most people will be shocked about that.

Now, I am not necessarily a private person, and I don’t much have an issue with putting my info out there – but it’s been MY CHOICE. I cannot in good conscience use or support any application or service that does not let the end user have ultimate control over the use of their personal information – no matter how trivial. Until Facebook changes its privacy polices back to the way they were prior to March 26, 2010, I will not be posting, reading, getting notifications or generally interacting at all with Facebook. However, I have not completely deactivated my account simply because I have pictures and other information already up there that others have linked to and I don’t want to break those links; also if Facebook changes their policies I will be happy to return to Facebook and don’t particularly care about going through the account reactivation process.

I do apologize to my friends and family who normally use Facebook to contact me, but I would hope everyone understands my position and why I feel I need to take this stand. Granted I’m only one person, but personal privacy is one thing I have ALWAYS felt very strongly about.

Since I am self aware enough to realize I love to talk about myself, I will be posting here more regularly and you can follow me on twitter (@critter42). If you do want to chat with me, I’m always on Google Talk (tho’ if I don’t respond immediately, it may be I’m at work and am busy, don’t be upset!) – critter42 ( a.t. ) gmail (d. o. t. )com.

• @brentsimmons could you make a NetNewsWire twitter list of all the NNW accounts? in reply to brentsimmons #
• @StateFarm Excellent! I'd be happy to beta test it if needed! in reply to StateFarm #
• @JasonSobel Do y'all play "Sergio Garcia Excuse BINGO" in the press tent? in reply to JasonSobel #
• @730Roser Depends on whether it's from downstream of the Wolf River or not, especially downstream of President's Island in reply to 730Roser #
• @ChrisVernonShow Have you SEEN the crap that spews out of President's Island? in reply to ChrisVernonShow #
• @730Roser @ChrisVernonShow OK, NOW Roser's lost it – is there a bong in the studio somewhere off camera or something? #
• @ChrisVernonShow – A better title would be "Sore, eardrums, sore" #

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Well, it seems like EVERY tech site is putting up its April Fool’s Day pranks.  And it ALSO seems like every tech site is putting up their own roundup of everyone else’s pranks, so I thought I would provide a roundup of the April Fool’s Day roundups!

Engadget:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/01/april-fools-day-roundup-let-me-topeka-that-for-you-edition/

Lifehacker:
http://lifehacker.com/5507090/your-april-fools-day-prank-spoiler

TechCrunch:
http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/31/april-fools-shenanigans-wikipedia-google-oh-my/

If you find any more roundups let me know so I can keep updating this post!