huibert-aalbers.com
My home away from home
Social networks
I love Plaxo. This is the first social network that actually solves a real problem for me. That is probably because it is not really social network in the same sense as FoceBook or MySpace. Plaxo allows me to have an up-to-date agenda by delegating to each of them the responsibility to maintain their current information accurate. Ever tried to call someone just to find out that he changed his/her phone number? Lost contact with someone after he/she moved to a new job? The promise of Plaxo is that this will never happen again. On the Mac, using the Plaxo plug-in any changes your contact make on the site are automatically synched to your Address Book and from there to your cell phone. This is a great simple idea that will make my life so much easier. I encourage everyone to give it a try. Most of my contacts are already using Plaxo, but the site will be totally useful once everyone gets on board.
But then, is it really such a great idea to join Plaxo or any other social network? The more I think about it, the more I am concerned about privacy issues. The data that social networks store is extremely valuable to all kind of people. Marketers want to understand who you can influence. Political parties want to look for blue persons surrounded by red friends (they are much easier to convince) or vice-versa. And then there is the government and law enforcement agencies.
The truth is that I wasn’t really scared by Facebook or MySpace. On those sites, the term friend doesn’t have any meaning. Popular Internet figures like Leo Laporte or Jason Calacanis have thousands of so-called online friends they have probably never met. Plaxo is different. These persons are on your agenda. When you call someone a friend he really is a friend, you are giving him or her your personal home address and phone number. That is not something you want to do to a total stranger, there are too many risks involved. Imagine the value of this information for those looking for criminals and or terrorists. Yes I know, it is unlikely that Osama Bin Laden will ever join Plaxo and list all his friends on the site. But even Osama had a normal life before becoming a terrorist. Knowing who his friends were back then could still prove extremely valuable. That information is so valuable in fact that I sincerely doubt that they will erase it. Once it is recorded that you know someone that information sticks to you. This information can potentially cause a lot of trouble. What if one of my customers becomes a criminal? What if one of my employees is a terrorist? I know, Plaxo offers a privacy policy but the simple fact that the data exists and that it can easily be used to reach many conclusions is scary.
Government agencies around the world are eager to understand social graphs. At IBM we sell solutions that help uncover hidden relationships. Using customer data from banks, airlines, utilities or even magazine subscriptions it is possible to find those relationships. It is known that the use of these products could have thwarted the 9/11 attacks using existing intelligence data. Unfortunately, at the time casinos were the main customers for these solutions in order to avoid gambling fraud, not governments. However, Plaxo takes this to a whole new level. If the idea really catches on, people who are not on that site will eventually look suspicious. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for helping law enforcement but I do not feel quite comfortable about the negative effects I may suffer if some of my acquaintances go astray. Of course I am assuming that the government of the country I happen to live in is democratic and doesn’t turn on its citizens (or foreign residents). What happens if that proves not to be true?
As a Dutchman I know all too well what can happen when sensible information falls in the wrong hands. When nazi Germany invaded The Netherlands in 1940, they used the religious information collected by the government for statistical purposes to exterminate the Jews. We do not want something similar to happen again. I will probably uninstall Plaxo from my computer. Too bad, it seemed such a great idea.