So this morning I got ANOTHER of those notorious Broadcast Messages, the curse of Indonesian BlackBerry users. Usually I just deleted it instantly without looking, but this one came from my girlfriend, so it may be a baaaaaad idea not to take a peek.

The BM is basically saying that Facebook can access your mobile’s phonebook, and may have published it on your FB page without your knowledge. It was complete with ‘instruction’ on how it remove it from your FB page.

“So what do you think? Is it true?” my girlfriend asked.

“I don’t know. But thank God I already closed my FB account”, I texted back, while I smiled smugl.

No, seriously, I closed my FB account. I used to be a quite active FB user for 4 years, especially in the photos upload department, thinking “MY FRIENDS NEED ME TO ENSURE THEIR EMBARASSING PICTURES ARE PRESERVED.” So when I was closing the account, I thought I was gonna die.

I did not. In fact, I am very much alive today.

Why did I close it? Oh, I don’t know. Sometime early this year I just realized that FB is just too “open”, that my life becomes transparent. Yeah, sure, I know about the (very complex) privacy setting. But really, how many people actually go through the trouble of setting privacy for every individual photo album, or comments, or notes? (I heard Google+ attempts to solve this with “circles” feature.)

I also did not really restrict who added me “as friends” in the past, when suddenly I realized, “hey, who are THESE people?” Coupled that with stories of crime planned on your loved ones (like kidnapping) thanks to FB openess, I decided “that’s it”, let’s go “off grid” for now.

Facebook to me is a privacy conundrum. Or maybe it’s just my generation is thinking differently from the “digital natives”, those who were born into e-mail and social media.

I grew up with books and movies of the paranoia that the government is trying to pry into your private life, without your permission. I remember the classic novel ‘1984’ by George Orwell (written in 1948, about a future world in 1984 – A MUST READ) where the future is (well, 1984 was way behind us now…) pictured as the government having complete access to your very life, down to your thoughts. The book coined the term “thought police”, where people can be arrested for even thinking wrong ideas, and “Big Brother”, the leader who must have your complete obedience and trust, and who can “see” you, anytime, anywhere (hence the reality show Big Brother!)

The book was obviously a premonition to the Communist system, especially communist Soviet Union, where nobody trusts anyone, and government spies were everywhere. But it is also a warning about the danger of losing one’s privacy.

If you think a 1948 book was too old a reference, I can assure you the fear remains. Flash forward to year 1998, the movie Enemy Of The State (Will Smith & Gene Hackman, directed by Tony Scott) resonated with the old fear of Big Brother. It’s a GREAT movie by the way, a must watch. The movie shows how Will Smith was framed in national level conspiracy, and how his every move could be monitored by the government, through mobile phone, credit card, and satellites. Gene Hackman played the character of an ex-agent who decided to go “off-grid”, basically a life without electronic trace whatsoever so he can “disappear” from government’s watch.

Again, the fear of privacy loss was there.

Now here we are in 2011, and I wonder whether the same fear is still there. Or whether it is only relegated to those born before 1990s.

The amount of information people put about themselves on Facebook can be….jaw-dropping. People have fight with their partners online. Or they upload incriminating photos (like wild drunk party pictures and stuff). They put photos of their children, telling what school they are going (really tempting for kidnappers). People update their status about their stupid clients in meeting (while the very same client is also their ‘FB friend’.)

I once read that social interaction also resembles ‘transaction’, unconsciously. Meaning, the more people are trusting, the more we also become (sort of tit-for-tat programming of the brain). So as more people are becoming transparent on social media, it gets more people to reciprocate the gesture.

One problem: evil people are out there. From child predators, scoundrels, extortionist, psychopaths, or just people with “problems”, they are out there also on the internet. And FB provides an easy ground for them to find target.

Maybe it’s just me. Or my generation’s. I don’t know But the idea of “too much transparency” is troubling, and that’s why I decided to kill my FB account. I keep Twitter because it is so simple in feature that one cannot really put too much about one’s life, unless of course if one tweets about his/her personal life too much. I do try to limit my tweets to jokes, discussion on current affairs, and general stuff, not so much about personal details.

So is Facebook a privacy conundrum? Do people still value privacy, but at the same time completely go naked online? Or we just lower our standard of privary further? I don’t have the answer myself. All I know is, forget about the old fear of Big Brother of ‘1984’ book. The people are already exposing themselves on social media! All government needs to do is sign-up with Facebook! No need for tapping telephone lines or expensive surveillance satellites! 😀

Perhaps for many people, the fabric of life is indeed already interwoven with their digital life. To share one’s life (or at least to project one) is becoming as important as one’s obsession to check out others (kepo-ness).

Somehow, I prefer that some aspects of my life still hide in the dark, that a part of me still lies “in the dark side of the moon”. And that’s probably why when I closed my FB account, it was far from a near-death experience. I don’t feel any loss at all, except when my old friends are having difficulty reaching me when they try to hold a reunion.

(and I thought chicks dig mysterious guys? :p)