The Death of Online Anonymity

Online Anonymity is dying because you can’t remember your password.

Sure it is fading away with every photo shared, blog posted and social network joined. But it will die primarily because you can’t remember which of the 50 some odd logins you have goes with what password. Imagine for a moment, that you only needed one login and one password for the entire net. Sounds lovely doesn’t it… well both Google and Facebook are starting to be your one login for all things online. Here’s what happening:

Both Google & Facebook are preparing universal connect programs enabling you to sign in to various other online services using your existing username and password. Google’s is “Friend Connect”. Facebook is “Facebook Connect”.

Google quietly launched "Friend Connect" this week. You can add the service and its gadgets to your existing webpage or blog enabling you to interact with your visitors. It is so easy to use even I did it, click join above (shameless plug). Facebook has not yet released its Facebook Connect to the public and is currently in the hands of developers.

Both companies are competing to become your public face online. If either manages create widespread adoption it has various different implications.

So lets pause the ranting and hit the bullets, what does this mean:

For you:
1) One username, password and profile
2) You now have a public face online with no network controls (as there is no network)

For Google
1) Finally builds a successful online “social network” without the network
2) More Google users means more ad revenue


For Facebook
1) Collects more information about your online activity, all data fed back to Facebook.
2) More data means more ad revenue

There are all kinds of ways having a single public profile would change the dynamic of the web. Online users will have some control over how public their profiles are; they can choose to join website anonymously or not join at all. That said I am concerned without being able to control the network (i.e. friend requests) people will expose themselves to unforeseen issues through these new associations.

For the time being, we have some if limited control over what we share and with whom. But very few of us engage in a form of personal PR by actively managing and even censoring our profiles. If you have one universal profile linking to all (or many) others we will find ourselves outside of the safe walls of our network standing naked (metaphorically) for all to see on the net.

What are your thoughts?

Tuesday was histrtoic but Friday is looking grim for those of us working in the Automotive industry. (More @ www.BritCrit.com)

the world changed today. It's time to come together.

is celebrating!

almost 2 million people have already voted in Georgia (only 3.3 million total voted in 2004) Get out and vote!

just checked the latest polling figures from fivethirtyeight.com Obama has reach over 98% chance of winning.

watching the Pats play, go Pats

enjoying dinner and hooka with friends

is on the couch enjoying pizza and bad movies

Happy Halloween!

going to the Dentist, I know you're jealous...

tweet test, attempt one to unsync facebook status with twitter

works fairly well now if i only had a couple friends who used twitter

works well... too bad no one i know uses twitter

just tried posting "works well" twice and twice failed no a final verdict but not a good start

Testing out Twidroid on my G1

Bill Gates Farewell is Funnier than his $7 Haircut

Normally, Bill Gates is probably the last person you'd think of if you need a good laugh. That said, in this weeks Keynote speech he shared a little star studded farewell video that was surprisingly funny. Watch for Bono, JayZ, Hillary, Obama, and Jon Stewart and a couple more stars. Apparently, he can take a joke.

Quick prediction: This is going to be the most watched Bill Gates video since he was hit with a custard pie almost 10 years ago.

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Tetris Played by Real People

Here's some fun to lighten up your Saturday. This youtube clip combines one of your favorite classic video cames and good clean campy fun.

The music is simply awesome!

Happy New Year

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