The Social Life and Times of Public Figures

Reading the morning news as I always do, I saw one of the headlines screaming something about how Toronto’s mayor was taking a vacation.

Aside from it being none of our business – and it isn't all that uncommon during the holiday season to take a holiday – this got me thinking about how invasive technology has become, especially to public figures.

Granted, those in the public’s eye have always been chased, hounded and even stalked by the media. But thanks to technology, now anyone with a smartphone, a tablet, a laptop or other mobile device can instantly dig up dirt on anyone – famous or not.

You can Google, tweet, friend, follow, fan or foursquare anyone these days. And in the case of the latter, you can show up where someone is, to snap a photo for Instagram.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford hasn't had a lot of success with the mainstream press. Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with his policies or politics, there’s no question that he isn't very media savvy. He’s rough around the edges, says what he thinks, and does what he wants despite being advised otherwise.

And he’s paid the price – the media constantly chases Mayor Ford, just waiting for that “gotcha” moment to splash all over the local and national news.

However, where and when the mayor of Canada’s largest city takes a vacation is going too far. Everyone deserves time off. It isn't as if the city, the country or the world for that matter, will fall apart because any one of us takes a holiday.

Yet we know when famous people take time off, do wild crazy things, get into bar fights, or worse – go to jail for just being screw-ups.

Not that the life and times of Lindsey Lohan, Justin Beiber, or your local city or town’s mayor really means anything to you or me.

Famed scholar and media critic Noam Chomsky calls all of this unnecessary attention in the media on famous people a distraction from the issues that really do matter.

Chomsky is right – the time we spend chasing public figures while they vacation or do whatever else they do, takes us away from our own families and friends.

And thanks to social media, it is even easier to be distracted by other people’s problems, instead of solving our own.

Maybe that’s why we take so much time to fan, friend and follow people that we really never really know – because it distracts us from the harsh reality of our own lives?

Feds Go After Social Media Giant Concerned for Privacy – And It’s Not Facebook

Canada’s federal government is formally requesting Twitter testify before a House of Commons committee studying privacy and social media, after they refused to voluntarily appear when initially approached.

Second only to Facebook, Twitter is one of the most popular social media networking services, with an estimated 500 million users. Facebook has over 600 million users, while Google Plus draws in an estimated 400 million users.

Both Facebook and Google voluntarily appeared before the Canadian government’s committee – yet Twitter refused.

Last May, the Commons committee began investigating how social media companies protect the personal information of their users, because of high profile interventions from Canada’s Privacy Commissioner with Facebook and Google just weeks earlier.

Usually it’s social media mega-site Facebook which is in the news for its self-serving privacy policies, but this time, the social network seemingly with something to hide is Twitter.

Twitter’s refusal to appear before the committee hearing falls amidst the company’s aggressive positioning to take-over the top spot in social media.

Many companies have gone out of business, as Twitter adds features and functionality to its social networking service, which previously could only be found through third-party companies. 

As Twitter adds these new perks to its service, it disables the ability of these third-party companies from providing the same service, by changing its Application Programming Interface (API).

Twitter has been consistent in denying third-party companies from providing apps which “replicate its core user experience,” as the company puts it. However, as Twitter adds to that “core user experience” it is putting companies out of business and people out of work.

However, this past August, Twitter announced major changes to its API, and since then, has been rolling out many features previously provided by third-party companies to its service.

As these new features are rolled into the giant social networking site – commonly called the world’s largest microblogging site – one has to question how the company is managing its member’s personal information?

Perhaps Twitter has been so busy gobbling up third-party features, the top brass has let that part of their business slide?

Or perhaps Twitter has discovered new ways to use that personal private information, which they fear could land them in the penalty box at a federal government investigation into privacy and social media?

We’ll have to wait and see, because the Canadian government’s House of Commons Committee hasn't sent out the formal letter to appear to Twitter as of this writing.

The motion to formally call Twitter to testify came after a representative from Facebook took committee members through that company's privacy policies.

Although Facebook’s relationship with Canada’s Privacy Commissioner has improved much since their initial meeting, by exploring the types of personal information collected, managed and stored with the world’s largest social networking service, the Canadian government is convinced they need Twitter’s participation to protect the interests of Canadians, and ultimately all of its users.

Canadians are among the top users of social media, along with the United States and the United Kingdom.

There are just over 10 million Twitter accounts based in Canada, according to a recent study by a Paris research group.

Another recent study says that Facebook has about 18 million Canadian users, more than half the country's total population.

Even Someone Named Snooki Can Teach Us a Life Lesson

Yesterday we learned yet another celebs nude pictures were spreading over the Internet after their cell phone was hacked.

E! News confirmed that Jersey Shore actress Snooki’s cell phone was hacked, and images sans clothes of the pregnant actress are popping up on the net. The images supposedly, are partially censored, so no Snooki bits are exposed fully. Though one questions whether this was an actual hack, or a media stunt to generate free press for the reality TV star.

This is not the first time celebrities have had to deal with hacked mobile devices unleashing naked pictures of themselves over the worldwide web. Scarlett Johansson and Blake Lively have had nude pictures exposed due to cell phone hacks as well.

Snooki – who’s real name by the way is Nicole Elizabeth Polizzi – appears to have fallen victim to the same type of hacks as other celebs – an invasion of private information ripped from their mobile devices.

With a name that sounds like the aftermath of a sneeze, one might feel like saying something soothing after hearing of the horrid news of her hacked phone.

However, if there weren’t any nude pictures, or any other potentially embarrassing things on her mobile devices, we’d probably not be tweeting and discussing her this very moment.

Yes, our mobile devices have become a deeply engrained part of our everyday lives. We use them to keep track of where we are, where we are going, who we are meeting, and even capture and share memories of important events.

And maybe some of those events you want to capture involve removing all clothing, and doing strange things with duct tape, crayons, and a marsh mellow. But if your mobile device gets hacked, the world will finally figure out what you use the marsh mellow for – and you will be red-faced embarrassed, unless it’s for roasting over a camp fire and eating.

What we choose to do with our tech is a personal choice. And we have to weigh the pro’s and the con’s each time we snap that photo, capture that video, or log onto that website.

But as long as there have been passwords, there have been hackers attempting to gain access to those password-protected systems.

Mobile devices, with all their passwords and apps that claim to secure your personal and private data, and cool apps which will even let you wipe your mobile device’s hard drive remotely, still leave us open to public embarrassment, because in the time it takes you to realize your mobile device is missing or may have been hacked, it could already be too late.

To easiest and most guaranteed way to ensure your private and personal information stays private, is to not use your mobile devices to take or store anything which can compromise you, your friends or your family.

Or, you could use one of those old film cameras, which doesn’t store anything digitally. Unless you took the time to painstakingly scan in the film negatives or the actual still pictures, there is no way for one of those cameras to leak sensitive info online.

Ah, retro-technology. It still has a use!