I recently had my faceBook account deleted, it seems that I’m not allowed to use the name Felonious Monk because it is not my “real” name. When they (facebook) asked me to confirm my real name by uploading documentation (birth certificate, driver’s license, state ID or even a utility bill with my name on it) I declined and let them delete my account (even though I’m sure they already know my real name).
My first thought was “it’s a social media site and not a government agency”, then that small part of me that loves a good conspiracy theory started putting things together.
It occurred to me that like a good magician the government utilizes the art of misdirection, getting you to look at left hand when they don’t want you to see what the right hand is doing. With all the attention the N S A has been getting about collecting data, and the legality of wire taps and just about everything else that they do. How they denied to their own people that Area 51 existed even after they signed a treaty allowing the Soviet Union to fly satellites over it. For years we have been hearing about the government monitoring, calls emails and collecting data on us and we were outraged (some more than others). But, facebook has over a billion members, all willing joined, and clicked “accept” multiple times (and most have no idea what they agreed to), we seem happy as long as we get some little convenience or we are content to play that game. We even use facebook to sign into other sites, no need for a warrant or worry about international laws since we all agreed to share everything, truly a global network made for collecting personal data.
I’m not the only one that has noticed some strange things happening while on facebook. I’ve heard several stories that are similar to one of mine. I went to a local grocery store (Cub) and it has one of those cards (like many stores) where you can earn rewards or load coupons onto it, so when you swipe your card it uses the coupons or collects points towards some reward. Well I bought a jar of chicken flavored baby food (something I never buy, a one time purchase). I never did any kind of internet search but sure enough that evening when I got online and checked my facebook page and there it was an advertisement for…you guessed it…baby food.
Remembering the movie (The Social Network) about Mark Zuckerberg and how facebook got started and how those around him that helped start facebook were more or less “removed” one way or another, it all started looking like some “evil” government plot. Making Mark Zuckerberg the face of the largest, most intrusive spy agency the world has every known.
Guess I’ll have to live life without facebook, since Felonious Monk isn’t my “real” name, it’s just the name I use on this site, along with sites like goodreads, bubblesws, reverbnation and just about every other site I use including google+. So if you want to find me or friend me look me up on google+ or email me at my Gmail account Felonious.M (it’s not that I don’t think google isn’t a government agency, but at least it lets me use the name I want).
I’m not really a conspiracy theorist but it feels like there is enough evidence surrounding facebook (and other social media) to make even a skeptic like me think twice. But then again I could be spreading a little misdirection for some agency that, as far as you know, doesn’t even exist.
Inversions by Iain M. Banks
monkspoint 