[telecom] Instagram Does an About-Face

The most prescient part of that blog entry is this:

It's a free service - they have to monetize somewhere, said John Casasanta, a principal at Tap Tap Tap ... The days of the simple banner ads are gone. Their user data is too valuable.

I go further than Mr. Casasanta: their data is priceless. As I have been saying (ahem) for years, the children who used AIM, Facetube, and similar "chat" applications to trade pictures and gossip are now taking their places in the professions, in governement, in churches, or in the military, and the idle passtimes of their recent youth will now rise up against them like some nightmare demon from under their beds.

Young adults are now discovering that their past is for sale, because they gave away the last reserve of privacy we have in America: they disclosed to total strangers the names of their friends.

"Well, Ms. Doe, I see here that you used to be quite close to a man who has been convicted of tax fraud. Is that something you'd want the Congressman's voters to know about? Is your husband aware ..."?

"Come on, Captain, you don't need to tell me this 'National Security' stuff. Don't you remember those pictures of Jane you had on your wall before you guys jumped the broom? I never sent those to anyone, bro, so you know you can trust me. I'm just asking if you guys are going to be deployed ... "

"Look, Judge, everyone deserves a second chance! Your own son used to smoke dope, and he bragged about it to everyone! This misguided youth who is now before you ... "

Be careful, so the saying goes, of what you ask for. If you want to whisper in someone's ear when you're miles apart, the best way to do it is - not at all.

Bill