People may claim that Facebook’s constant invasions of privacy are violations of the First Amendment. On the contrary, I think Facebook is the most American creation we’ve seen since Levi’s. Check the reasoning: Facebook was a new frontier, promising glory and prosperity for those new to the land of opportunity that Facebook could provide. As stories of new chances at free social networking hit the mainland of non-Internet users, millions flocked to the New World. Then, once the migrants were lured in by the promises, settled in and too comfortable to leave, the new homeland used not-so-subtle tactics to strip its citizens of rights and privacy. Sounds pretty damn American to me.

Facebook has faced its fair share of bad publicity due to privacy leaks recently, but the fact remains that nobody is going to leave it over privacy. I have five years of pictures and a few close friends I’ve never bothered to get phone numbers from that I’d lose if I raised a fuss and ditched Facebook over some sort of invasion of privacy complaint. The house that Zuckerberg built knows this, so they keep pushing the envelope, chipping away at our privacy by secretly changing settings and sending our info across the web.

Most recently, I’ve seen friend’s profiles on various sites like Pandora and Yelp when I look up a song or restaurant. Facebook has given my profile information (yours too, kiddo) to these random URLs. So, when I go and click on Miley Cyrus on Pandora, a little Facebook icon will show up, telling me that Tinsley “likes” her music. He had no clue this information was floating around the net, and he can’t do anything to stop it. It’s essentially a big “f*ck you. Do something about it.” from the powers-that-be at Facebook.

There are so many invasions of privacy that it’s hard to keep track of them. That’s why I stumbled on this new application called Reclaim Privacy. It’s pretty sweet. Just go to the page and drag it to your bookmarks. Once you log into Facebook, it’ll automatically check all of your privacy settings and tell you what you’re susceptible to. Then, you can make changes accordingly so your mom won’t see you doing naked kegstands at the KA party.

When I used the app, I found out that strangers could share any of my pictures to anyone they want online. I see you trying to be sneaky, Facebook. Don’t tell them I sent you. I don’t want Facebook to come to my house and molest my cat.