Facebook just hears more gossip than any one person did in the past.
At some point, a large enough quantitative difference becomes a qualitative difference. Facebook has definitely crossed that boundary. This does, in itself, make facebook bad, but its not just the equivalent of an absurdly gossipy person.
When you make your data public, you no longer have a right to control it.
Fair enough, but the problem is the rate at which your information becomes very public that is causing problems. In the past, if you sent someone a letter with a return address, they could make photocopies if it and send it to everyone they wanted to, but that would take a lot of time and effort. The fact that its almost automatic now will catch a lot of people by surprise. People need to understand how quickly information about them can spread so they can make informed decisions in their life.
At some point, a large enough quantitative difference becomes a qualitative difference. Facebook has definitely crossed that boundary. This does, in itself, make facebook bad, but its not just the equivalent of an absurdly gossipy person.
When you make your data public, you no longer have a right to control it.
Fair enough, but the problem is the rate at which your information becomes very public that is causing problems. In the past, if you sent someone a letter with a return address, they could make photocopies if it and send it to everyone they wanted to, but that would take a lot of time and effort. The fact that its almost automatic now will catch a lot of people by surprise. People need to understand how quickly information about them can spread so they can make informed decisions in their life.