Saturday, May 27, 2006

A Thing Called Privacy

As someone who prides herself on being reasonably informed and observant, I can't believe I missed it. In deciding whether or not to shut down/protect my xanga (yes, the one that I have neglected forever), I came across a frightening thing: footprints.

I have no idea why I didn't pick up on this earlier, but apparently my browsing activity in xanga is easily tracked through virtual "footprints." While looking through my log of the last few days, I was freaked and flattered by the fact that some anonymous user has read every entry and subscribed to my xanga.

It's an interesting double standard that I apply, as I myself am very intrigued in seeing who has read my xanga. Yet when the ball is in the other court, I don't want people knowing I have read theirs. Either way, I think that I have been permanently scared from ever posting on xanga again.

Rereading the scant few entries on my own xanga, I saw it as an interesting time capsule of my life about two years ago. It was a brisk and slightly amusing read, nothing more.

Xanga is one of those words that is memorable and has no appropriate synonyms. It sounds so awkward to use it that many times in a paragraph.

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