The Social Web Bill of Rights and the Cute Little Monkey

Did you see it? Did you see the little monkey? It was a cute little monkey! Such a cute, cute little monkey!

Yes. I was distracted by the monkey. The monkey that I invented. The invisible monkey that caught my attention more so than the idea of the Bill of Rights for the Social Web that many bloggers seem so excited about- so their comments say. I guess I fall in that category of people who just don’t care about the Bill of Rights for the social web. I’m with blogger Jim Minatel on this one. It just falls low on my list on my list of really important issues to care about. Being of Generation ADD (All Day Digital), its really hard to focus on an issue such as this <–insert, as I check my facebook page and volunteer some more personal information without considering the consequences, here. But, while I’m talking..

I think the social web bill of rights is just another idea to think about when using the web, and I don’t think people want to think about much of anything when it comes to using the web. Sure, we are concerned about our freedoms and our privacy, but we just don’t care that much. That is why we continually volunteer our personal information for the hell of it. We know the dangers. We understand the consequences. And, somewhere in there, we want control of all of the information we put on the web. Ultimately, we don’t want to think, period- this couldn’t be more evident than in the case of emerging technologies that make us think less and less each day. <–insert your argument here. I know. I know.

In society, we’re constantly screaming “we want control, control, control.” But this idea of control of our personal info on the web…yea guys, it sounds cool in theory, but I mean the concept of the WORLD WIDE WEB + personal control of our info (for a dramatic effect, imagine this in teeny, tiny font) sounds a bit daunting. Okay. Okay. So maybe Google and Microsoft can pull it off. But the question is: who even wants this responsibility?

Let’s play a game of tell me what comes to your mind when I say “blank.” Okay? I’ll start first.

You say: Bill of Rights for the social web.

I say: Rules on the web…Hey, is this a trick? There’s no room for rules on the web, just like there’s no crying in baseball. I mean, we ALL own the web, in a sense. It’s like totally mass contribution and mass ownership, duh.

You say: No. You’re definitely missing the point. The Bill of Rights for the Social Web is “like totally” about we users owning and controlling how are personal information is used on the web and who has access to it. It’s about the control being in our hands.

I say: Really. Is this absolutely possible?

You say: (silence)

I say: (sigh) <—insert, volunteering additional personal information on facebook, here.