Yet another politician caught philandering (digitally) within 140 characters. Surprising? Not really. I’m disappointed (again) because I actually agree with a lot of Rep. Weiner’s positions on policy and really think that something like this, rightly or wrongly, could end a political career. It’s not the crime, it’s the cover up. But I’m also surprised at how blatantly public the Rep. (and I’m sure many other cheating partners) choose their tools of digital flirtation. Even though what he’s admitted to doing is (in my opinion) wrong, I don’t want to dissect this on moral grounds. Let’s just for a moment dissect on stupidity’s grounds.
The lesson here (besides don’t cheat ((emotionally, digitally or otherwise)) on your partner) is simple: If it’s digital, you don’t have the only copy. Give that a ponder…. Complicate this situation exponentially by being a public figure, which in itself carries a higher likelihood someone will try to hack into your computer or online accounts, as well as the tools you use to communicate with others. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram – any of these social media channels are inherently public. They’re designed to share information with the masses. Even email is also effectively non-secure to someone who knows how the systems work. And every message already contains two copies (one for the sender and one for the receiver). How can anyone in or out of the public eye think that their information is 100% private when distributing it through social media channels?
I also was watching Apple’s keynote today on iOS 5, Lion, and iCloud. iCloud could complicate things even more in this realm. While it would provide a great service in syncing and backing up all of your documents, photos, and even music – that creates one more copy – one more avenue for that information to be compromised. Is it secure? Probably. Fool proof? Probably not. And if we as users decide we’re comfortable with everything we’ve ever wrote or photographed living in the cloud, I’m sure for those with something to hide there may be some negative consequences. Before you sync – give it a ponder.
What do you think about iCloud or the prospect of having all of your documents synced via the cloud? Do the pros outweigh the cons? Let me know in the comments!
