Monday, September 21, 2009

News, ownership and the idea of being informed

I learned some things I didn't know today. For example:

- I didn't know that if you checked your ATM and found money missing, that it was you who was responsible for showing how it went missing.
- in Feburary 2009, facebook made amendments to its privacy settings that allowed the site to take ownership of anything the users posted on their profile, even if they deleted their account.


The idea of personal Onus of Proof and the lack of control I have over my face book page alarms me. Although this sort of ties into the Spin thing that we were talking about in Professional Writing and Publishing, if you'll let me draw paralells.

With spin, it's basically taking any situation and turning it to your advantage. The way they word the terms of service for certain companies does the same thing. With the bank, they don't really care how it happens as long as they get the money.

My notes say Agenda Setting, which is basically the same thing as Spin. Choose the setting you want, angle your agenda towards it, and you can almost convince anyone of anything. The correct wording is paramount, and as a result of learning all of this I've been reading through my contracts and anything else I agree to very, very carefully.

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