Facebook; Creepy or Outright Malicious?

This video was reccomended to me by a friend lately. Go ahead and watch it. I'll wait.

...man, I forgot how long that video is. Hm... what to do, what to do... oh! Lolcats! Man those little guys are hilarious. I should kill this blog and make a new one devoted entirely to lolcats and loldogs. I wonder if interwebsloldogs.blogspot.com is already taken...

Okay, you've watched it. Pretty creepy at first glance, but a little far fetched. Conspiracy theories abound on the interwebs, and noting that some big name investors have invested in multiple things doesn't necessarily mean that the government is 1984-style creeping on our facebook pages.

But anyone who knows about facebook knows how genuinely stalker style they are. This site explains ten privacy settings that can make it less likely you'll be stalked or creeped by those who wish you harm, but nothing prevents facebook from using your data for their own nefarious ends.

And by nefarious ends, I mean selling data to marketing companies. You see those ads on the side of facebook? Ever notice how wonderfully targeted they are? It's because they can read your status. For instance, change your status to married, and you'll see all sorts of different ads targeted at newlyweds. Change your likes to 'Ice Cream', and you'll probably see some ads for Haagen-Daaz.

Is this necessarily a bad thing? I mean, if this is 1984, it's about the most benevolent form of 1984 imaginable. A big brother that carefully notes what you like, and makes suggestions for your further enjoyment? Doesn't sound too dystopian.

Of course, there has been a lot of complaints about facebook. The whole "invasion of privacy" thing is a big one. There have been many cases where authority figures (colleges, law enforcement, even secret service agents) have supposedly used facebook to track down people making inappropriate posts, threatening remarks or posting pictures of themselves breaking the law. (source)

IMHO, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Sure, there might be a slippery slope leading to a total police state, but now facebook primarily uses their information to help you find cool new items and services you might like. They're making fabulous amounts of money doing it, and if this helps law enforcement track down criminals, so much the better.

What are your thoughts on the issue?