and i almost forgot. if i walk up to average joe and ask him for any or all of his name, social, credit card number, phone number, location, social activity, snippets of his conversations, photos of him, etc etc, he would probably back away and likely call the police, regardless of whatever convenience or product i'm giving in exchange (he would probably do it or cash though, heh). So when same average joe goes typing all that stuff into the magic and mystical screen that can talk to people all over the world, guess what that makes him... a jackass.

all this crap about how "the average joe doesn't understand how information travels and how it can be data mined" yadda yadda is a moot point.. If average joe doesn't know how to operate a chainsaw, no one goes harking at the chainsaw manufacturer when he cuts his leg off. If average joe doesn't know how to ride a motorcycle, and he takes off on a bike, it's his own stupid ass fault when he hits the ground. If average joe doesn't know anything about mechanics, he doesn't need to go tinkering with the engine. If he don't know how to drive, what the hell is he doing behind the wheel? If average joe doesn't understand privacy and data and technology, he shouldn't go blasting the net with his private life details. Computers and the internet were made and built to do one thing: store, process, and share DATA, INFORMATION, and KNOWLEDGE. Maybe, average joe shouldn't play with toys he don't know anything about. . Let the INTERNET (a unified global computer network) be for those that understand COMPUTERS and NETWORKS (oh wait, we already have onion, darknets, etc for that).

Facebook is a trusted channel? maybe for suckers. Despite the data mining, despite the absurd privacy policies, despite the archiving of public and "private" (inbox) discussions, despite the open-data application platform, despite any of the hardcore privacy and technical issues, remember this: facebook was founded by a snooty hacker wannabe who stole other people's ideas in an effort to be popular and gather pictures of the girls that wouldn't date him. if you trust that, you fail.

You trust your isp with some personal information, and true you can't easily and practically get around it... but people CHOOSE to blast every detail of their life in public forums like facebook. it is purely choice, and choosing not to do it does not demand some sort of extreme workarounds, as "living off the grid" might.

If you live in a hole and use facebook and don't realize how they use your data, or might use your data (don't you read, watch the news, or anything?) , or realize that you are displaying information publicly (at the very least to the people you 'allow' to view it, although really anyone can) and that once you put information in the public it is no longer private, then the government or anyone else harnessing your data is the least of your worries - your distorted and sheltered view of the world will hinder you far worse and far sooner than anyone else will. It's only a secret when you keep it to your self. It's not a man in the middle ATTACK. Every user of facebook willingly puts everything they put on facebook. MITM attack implies that there is some sort of unexpected presence or breached behavior of the middle-man in the first place. It's more of a man-in-the-middle idiot fest.

Typo in title. Should read DDoS*