I Always Feel Like Somebody’s Watching Me

category: Technology
by Kamael,

Do you remember that song from the 80s, “Somebody’s Watching Me” by Rockwell? Every time I heard it, I giggled at the visual image of Rockwell being stalked in the shower:

“When I’m in the shower/ I’m afraid to wash my hair /’Cause I might open my
eyes/And find someone standing there/ People say I’m crazy/ Just a little
touched/ But maybe showers remind me/ Of Psycho too much/ That’s why”

But after reading TechCrunch today, I am convinced Rockwell had good reason to be paranoid. TechCrunch featured Spokeo, a start-up based in Mountain View, that just launched a new version of its site which allows you to track the updates your friends make to all the social networks they participate in. You can track your friends’ on over 30 websites (Facebook, Flickr!, Yelp, mySpace, to name a few)and get updates on their edits, new posts, etc.

Sounds cool, if you are the super busy type that doesn’t have time to keep up with your friends, huh? But frankly, I find it scary. Is this really what being friends has become? You don’t have time to hang out with me or pick up the phone and call me, but you have time to track my every move on the internet? I find Spokeo’s strongest selling points ghastly:

Easy set-up: The serial killer in prison can now easily track hundreds of ppl online with two simple clicks.
Download from your address book: Because you want that guy you interviewed with last week and sent a thank you letter to to now be able to see that pic on Flickr of you dancing on a bar.
No one knows: Every stalker’s dream.

Spokeo validly points out that they are not accessing any data that you haven’t in theory made public already by participating in social networks. But I disagree somewhat. What about those ppl you have on limited profile in Facebook? And maybe I don’t want to point my LinkedIn contacts to the photos from my birthday party on Flickr. They also point out that you can’t add someone that isn’t already part of your friend circle on other sites. But I have over 200 friends on Facebook (something I will blog about later) and another 100+ or so on LinkedIn. Even though I don’t think any of them are serial killers (at least that’s not what their job title says), do I really want them seeing my every internet step?

In B-school, Keith Ferrazzi spoke in our “Paths to Power” class about segmenting your friends and all your contacts into friend buckets. An F prime - the highest level - gets personalized time with you whereas an F3 might just get a follow-up email every quarter. Although I hated the idea two years ago, I think the time has come for someone to turn that idea into a business. Help me manage my “connectedness” so only my F primes get updates on the drunken pics of me floating on the web. I’ll personally fund that start-up.

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