Is Google Sucking the Life Out of Your Identity? Are They Alone?

6:25 AM
In "Can Google be Trusted to Do No Evil?", I talked about how Google+ provided a hub by which users could be tied to their websites, content, other users, employers, or locations... virtually any entity, with any attribute.

I also pointed out that the amount of information that's available on most of us that frequent the Internet is immense. The sparse tidbits we share on various social media platforms and in our user profiles is often enough to fill an impressive dossier, even when we're extremely cautious and protective of our information.

Six Degrees

The Six Degrees of Separation is very real - I've seen it proven time after time. I imagine there must be some obscure cases in which more than six levels of separation apply, but it would almost certainly require that at least one party be a member of a reclusive aboriginal tribe. Possibly both. On separate continents.

For the denizens of the ether jungle, however, most of us would find ourselves separated by only two or three levels, possibly four, worldwide. As an example, I'm a virtual nobody, but I'm separated from Tim Berners-Lee, Dolly Parton and Barack Obama by only one level. Scary for them, I'm sure. I'd hazard a guess that four connection points could connect me to the Pope. Now that'sscary!
In "Can Google be Trusted to Do No Evil?", I talked about how Google+ provided a hub by which users could be tied to their websites, content, other users, employers, or locations... virtually any entity, with any attribute.

I also pointed out that the amount of information that's available on most of us that frequent the Internet is immense. The sparse tidbits we share on various social media platforms and in our user profiles is often enough to fill an impressive dossier, even when we're extremely cautious and protective of our information.

Six Degrees

The Six Degrees of Separation is very real - I've seen it proven time after time. I imagine there must be some obscure cases in which more than six levels of separation apply, but it would almost certainly require that at least one party be a member of a reclusive aboriginal tribe. Possibly both. On separate continents.

For the denizens of the ether jungle, however, most of us would find ourselves separated by only two or three levels, possibly four, worldwide. As an example, I'm a virtual nobody, but I'm separated from Tim Berners-Lee, Dolly Parton and Barack Obama by only one level. Scary for them, I'm sure. I'd hazard a guess that four connection points could connect me to the Pope. Now that'sscary!