Is your site being monitored by Big Brother?

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Hi guys,

We’re all looking to drive traffic to our sites, build lists, make money and live a hunky dorry lifestyle and there are also those who get pleasure out off seeing how well their site is performing through monitoring their stats and seeing who came from which site and who looked at what pages.

But how would you feel if you were the one being monitored?

Hmmm, monitored you say, I’m okay with that, after all I write content on my blog so that others can see what I’m all about, right?

But what if you were being monitored not just on your blog, but on the social sites you visit, the items you purchase, the people you network with and the information you pass around which some of you might find very sensitive, data like sexual orientation, religious beliefs and political views?

Okay, some of you might not give 2 hoots what information you share with the world or what profile you put down on a social site but when you get the sense that its not just your friends seeing your proclivities and interests online but also BIG BROTHER (and no, I don’t mean the channel 4 reality show) then it might start to cause you to distrust our government and the way the system functions these days.

Yes, boys and girls we are about to be monitored for what ever we do on the net. So get ready to be SNOOPED!
It hasn’t been decided yet but yesterday it was announced that the UK government (and the US will probably follow suit if they’re not doing so already that is) are planning to monitor social networking sites in order to tackle crime gangs and terrorists who might be using these sites.

Sites like Facebook, Bebo, Myspace and now Twitter who have tens of millions of people using them will have the governments prying and shifty eyes all over us. Can you imagine the government following you on Twitter? Hey Mr Gordon Brown just a quick reminder that your friend across the pond Mr. Obama the most powerful man in the world in, case you’ve forgoten, is already being followed by hundreds of thousands of people on Twitter, so what’s the point?

But wait, the ministers are saying that they have no interest in the content of discussions that us social networkers are up to - they just want to know who we’ve been talking to.

So if any of you have recently facebooked your drug supplier or tweeted your weapon’s dealer I suggest you  stop that now.

But in all seriousness should we feel any different to the ways our government runs things? Should we oppose this scheme and kick up a fuss over it? After all when we do step out of our homes in order to go to work or shopping we are constantly monitored by surveillance cameras 24-7 for our own security.

A lot of security measures are taken these days to protect the average citizen in order to make him feel safe in his environment. It is very much of a feel-good nature. Some might thing they’re not effective but are meant to look effective. Some of us demand our government & public officials to do something about it even though it might not seem like it does any good.  But surveillance and monitoring can be a blessing albeit in disguise.

Yes, we live in a surveillance age my friends and there’s no escaping that. The government are justifying it by saying that collection of data is necessary so that law enforcement agencies can maintain their ability to tackle terrorism and gather evidence.

Now that the cat is out of the bag, I suggest to all those out there who feel that they have a few rattling skeletons in their closets to go to their social sites and erase what ever private details they may have which might put them on the governments high priority social media list or be constantly followed on Twitter by them.

So, it’s time to start pretending to be someone REAL.

And if you feel like you’ve been following a suspicious sect group on Twitter - unfollow them.

If you sense that one of your friends on Facebook looks sinister with a Kafiah on his head - erase him.

If you’ve been listening to ‘Anarchy R Us’ songs on Myspace then stop it now!

You’ve been warned, so be afraid, be very afraid.

And If you experience the need to vent your frustrations at the Big Brother machine over the invasion of your own privacy and everyone elses then allow me to finish off by quoting some lines from the memorable film ‘1984‘ written by George Orwell:

‘They can’t do that. It’s the one thing they can’t do. They can torture you, make you say anything. But they can’t make you believe it. They can’t get inside you. They can’t get to your heart.’

So keep it REAL folks.

regards

Che Guy

blog monitoring, social media sites, big brother, 1984, George Orwell, government surveillance