Facebook, Fascistbook, Fastbuck

In Facebook, love costs just one dollar, which is either very cheap indeed, or massively over-priced, depending on your views. I've recently become fascinated with the fascination that other people are showing for this fast-growing social networking site. Apparently sane and intelligent people seem to enjoy this "walled garden" so much that businesses are banning its use in the workplace.

Facebook is indeed the educated person's MySpace -its clean lines and regulated interface a contrast to the teenage-bedroom style of similar websites. But, the dark side of Facebook is beginning to emerge. Is it actually amoral, in that Facebook allows groups such the far right BNP to operate unchecked, and contains groups encouraging anorexia in young people? And is this walled garden so very secure and safe? Recent glitches meant that emails and instant messages, none of which are supposed to leave the site, ended up in the wrong place, and caused real emotional problems and at least one relationship breakdown.

Internally, Facebook seems to be full of geeks in a fever of video messaging, crowing about the wonder of the system, the "traction", the "community" - micro-media exponents galore, commenting glibly one after another on the cleverness of their own high-tech take on this new world. I find myself on a deep level uneasy about this activity - are there not more important things to be concerned about than which tech conference to visit next and who to drink with when you are there?

Yesterday, it was announced that the Yangtse River dolphin was "probably extinct". I've not seen any webcam flash videos posted up in Facebook on this sad ending of life, an issue which most Facebookers seem to be failing to recognise, let alone take action, but then, maybe I've joined the wrong groups.

For me, Facebook is fraught with issues which mean I cannot trust it. Not only are there real issues about the ownership of content you create within the site - they own it, you don't, and even if you delete your account, they own the archive - the incredible amount of personal detail people are prepared to divulge, tantamount to saying, "I'm just popping out now, keys are under the porch" indicate a level of security unconsciousness which I find scary.

But joining groups within Facebook which relate to my real concerns? I don't think so. I don't mind belonging to "Bring Back Les Dawson" or starting a cause called "Podcasting", but, we live in the era of surveillance, and I live in the middle of the most surveilled society in the world. "They" already know too much about me, as far as I am concerned - and I'm not doing anything I need to hide. It feels so safe inside this walled garden - despite the holes - and this provides the same illusory sense of security as the developed world's wealth does. So, we feel safe, and we are safe, until the next regime change, when dissidents, free-thinkers and intellectuals will be only too easy to find, round up, and remove in the name of security.

I think it was Spike Milligan who said, "Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't after me."

Read more about Facebook by looking at my del.icio.us links