Obama warns about facebook use?

Here is the story.

news.yahoo.com...


ARLINGTON, Va. – President Barack Obama went forward with a controversial speech to students nationwide Tuesday, preceding it by advising young people at a suburban Virginia school to "be careful what you post on Facebook."

"Whatever you do," he told them, "it will be pulled up later in your life."


I don't get it. I don't use these things but I know alot of people that do. So I began to wonder about this.

That seems to be a pretty ominous statement. I have seen alot on the internet about facebook and myspace being used to spy on people's personal lives, but I never paid any mind to it (I mean there is a conspiravy theory behind everything today). But by the president openly stating that it will be pulled up later in life is kind of unnerving. I mean, knowing that something most people probably don't take serious may be used against you for whatever is... well, kind of odd I guess.

I may be misreading the statements, I don't know. I just figured I'd share and see what people's thoughts were.

I really don't know what to make out of this satement.

Any thoughts?



[edit on 8-9-2009 by AgnosticX]

It is what adults have been saying for years. If you apply for a job or college now, they do internet searches on you, especially myspace and facebook.

I have no facebook or myspace so I guess I am cool for now.

this has been known for a long time. i think he is just making more people aware that facebook is dangerous. which is a GOOD thing.

if you are a member of facebook, the site can keep every single piece of information you share on the site and can track other sites you go to.

its not a good site to be a part of if you are involved in any questionable online activity.

It's true.

Everyone who's on facebook, should be aware of it.
I think the key lies on you being conscious of the level of exposure there is on those social pages.

If you are ok with it, then, it's fine.

I use them, so I'm not complaining

well actualy obama did a GOOD thing telling kids that,couse yea what they sayd...employers and colleges are going to look you on facebook and myspace.
but thats cool,we can make "makeup-goodkids" profiles and pretend were cool (:

Originally posted by nixie_nox
It is what adults have been saying for years. If you apply for a job or college now, they do internet searches on you, especially myspace and facebook.

Isn't that an invasion of privacy? I don't see any statement on job applications that they do this. Maybe that is why I am getting few calls back for jobs. I blatantly state I am a lesbian on myspace site. I also talked about having an affair with my theraspist a couple years a go.
If this is the case I am going to delete my journal entries. I think I will go back to doing the old fashioned paper and pen diary.

[edit on 8-9-2009 by dreamseeker]

reply to post by dreamseeker


No one is invading your privacy. You gave up your privacy when you put the information in a public forum.

That's the point.

[edit on 9/8/2009 by Phage]

Our parent's generation used to say "This will go down on your permanent record". Well, MySpace and Facebook, and other Social Networking Sites are the Information Age's version of a Permanent Record.

The Alphabet Soup Government Agencies don't have the Data Mining Information that Rupert Murdoch's MySpace or Bill Gates FaceBook have access to that was volunteered by each and every citizen.

(There's a funny episode of South Park that brings this up, where the FBI and DHS don't have any information about a Terrorist, but Stan is able to find out everything the FBI and DHS can't by looking at the Terrorist's MySpace and Facebook pages!)

People forget that when they voluntarily post data about themselves in a Public Database, they are forsaking their Rights to Privacy. As this data is available to everyone, it is not easily protected or restricted by Government Legislation, especially when these databases are owned and controlled by Multinational Corporations.

So, Obama is pointing out what most with common sense already know:

1.) What you say or do (on your MySpace and FaceBook profiles) will be held against you.

2.) These things will be held against you for as long as the Internet exists (basically unto perpetuity).

3.) Anyone, including the Press, future Business Contacts, Employers, Spouses, and the Government Alphabet Soup Agencies will have that information in a single keystroke.

4.) By volunteering this information on your Public Profiles you have not only provided silent consent to have the details of your life monitored, but you have surrendered your Right to Privacy, not just from the Government, but from the Corporations, and from your Neighbors.

5.) If you fear the Government Alphabet Soup Agencies the most, then you are barking up the wrong tree as you should be fearing the Multinational Corporations more for what they are doing to violate your Rights! "Ask not what your Country did for you, but ask what you did for the Corporations!"

reply to post by dreamseeker


What phage and frat said. it becomes public information when you post it.

And it is not just networking sites. Just a search in general can turn up a lot of information.

Interestingly, I wouldn't worry about the government seeing this stuff too much, if they want it they'll get it - somehow.

The greater concern will probably be in applying for jobs/college etc, I know the company I work for actively monitors our facebooks, so no more phoning in sick after a heavy night. There's plenty of easy ways you can get caught out by facebook or myspace with an employer - I keep both of mine set to private, yet I wonder if they truly are?

reply to post by AgnosticX


hehe i think the big O is rather thankfull that facebook wasn't about in his student activist days... or his going to crazy white people hating church days. lol poor guy has had do defend every single move he or anyone he knows ever made, i suspect he just wants to warn others to think before they add something to the record.

edit to add a rant....

THis IS EVIL advice in one respect, it's about normalizeing our opinions into what is 'acceptable' well YA BOO SCREW YA I AIN'T DOING IT!

If some company is so far up itsself that they think they have some sort of right to judge me on my opinons, hobbies, etc then sod ya i ain't working for you! Your loss, I'm a clever guy who goes to great lengths to understand the world, to explore and understand new things - if you can't take that then fine, settle for some second rate idiot brain donor, chuck everyone like me from your ranks then see how you fare in the cut and thrust world of modern life! Automated drones might be easy to control, they might not cause any trouble or ask any tough questions. They might never say something to shame you and i'm sure they'll always tow the company line - expect them to solve your problems? innovate new thinking? spot coming danger? inspire others? haha good luck!

I do some things that aren't exactly 'normal' by most courporate policy, I've read things you might not like and i probably agree with alot of them too! I've said things you would hate, i believe things which you fear! I'm not alone either, there are millions of me - people who aren't scared to question 911, people who aren't scared to protest the government, people who aren't scared to take a counter-view on a counter view, people who try to understand things forthemselves (and sucseed), people who stand up for what they believe in. These are the people who truly make the world great! These are the people who make things happen, make things possible, make things exciteing!

You want to try and cut out these people? Well goo, it helps me steer clear of your bedly run business with it's stupid out dated rules and systems, it's bad management and awful prospects - I am free then to put my energy into good places, working with sensible people to forge a world free of your courprotiam and greed, free of your closed thinking and tyranical policy, free of your elitest power structures. Not for me is the life wasted slaving for your profits, not for me your dress codes and polite silence, not for me your sissufis toil -your rock will lay at the foot of that hill forever.

I will forge my own world away from your stupid corporations and idiotic governments, i will create a world with my right thinking friends in which people can speak their minds and dress how they like. Then when we have everything that is good and you have nothing, when you come to my door and say 'please i need a job', i won't worry about what you said to me back then or how you used to think - i'll say welcome brother, 'start whenever you're ready -but remember, the world has changed now.'




# just to clear it up i think 11 arabs with box cutters crashed planes on 911! thats how radical i am lol, double radical thinking, although of course bush (daddy bush) knew it was going tto happen.

[edit on 8-9-2009 by NatureBoy]

Case in point. I seem to remember a photo of Obama's chief speech writer groping a life size cutout of Hillary Clinton surfacing on Myspace earlier this year. Of course this picture was just fluffed off as child's play and an innocent joke. Now Obama sends a warning that should have been sent at the time of his writers little pickle. Huh??

The only thing people will find out is that I'm a conspiracy theorist who has a lot of friends that believe my theories. So in the future, when all the conspiracies come true, will they call me a prophet? give me a job in the stock market, or something? I'm not worried. I have nothing to hide.

reply to post by AgnosticX


facebook and the like have been known for a while to not delete anything. it stays in the database and you just lose the link to it. if you search around for it, you'll find a number of stories about how pictures people deleted still show up on the web and the links still work even if they're not in that person's album anymore. same thing with google caches, the wayback machine and so on.

In general, the internet is like a gossip heavy company. once it out there, its out there. only way for it to not be out there is to not put it out there.

Originally posted by jokei
There's plenty of easy ways you can get caught out by facebook or myspace with an employer - I keep both of mine set to private, yet I wonder if they truly are?

Yeah, that's just it isn't it? I find it interesting that he would mention facebook by name since facebook is supposedly designed for greater privacy in its default settings. People generally have to add you to first to see much of anything (word of mouth from there on still works quite well of course), but perhaps he's implying that government searches of social networking sites which have already been made public will not limit themselves to "public" profiles in the future. I've set mine to private, but at least one of my superiors always tries to add me anyway and I feel obliged to accept so that it doesn't seem like I have something to hide. My social networking site is little more than free ad space for my astrophotography and astronomy webcasts at this point anyway, so I don't really care if they see it, but it irks me that they'll so openly try to get access to it.

[edit on 8-9-2009 by ngchunter]

If they searched for facebook I would never get a job haha! I do some crazy things, but hey im only 18

If I was put into the situation when I knew the boss was looking at my profile on facebook, I would just ask to see theirs and laugh

Originally posted by The Songwriter
If they searched for facebook I would never get a job haha! I do some crazy things, but hey im only 18

If I was put into the situation when I knew the boss was looking at my profile on facebook, I would just ask to see theirs and laugh

Not sure what your career aspirations are but when you do finally want to get a serious job beyond flipping burgers, don't be surprised if your questionable online stuff comes back to haunt you at some point.

My brother is a recruiting manager for a Fortune 500 company and according to him, they look at everything nowadays especially when the job markets are tight. If you want to be an idiot go for it. Just don't brag about it and post pictures of yourself in action. Not smart. Everything is fair game on those websites whether you post it or someone posts it about you.

Originally posted by jibeho
If you want to be an idiot go for it. Just don't brag about it and post pictures of yourself in action. Not smart. Everything is fair game on those websites whether you post it or someone posts it about you.

So true. Even if you're not doing anything idiotic it's still a little creepy when the boss asks you on monday morning about your new astrophotos... and the only place where you mentioned your weekend star party plans was online.

I never understood people's need to expose themselves on those sites. I always warn my kids away from posting anything personal about themselves too.