The age of digital privacy

It seems like everyone is blogging these days. While some of these bloggers willingly share personal details of their lives with strangers, I am concerned about my Facebook profile, which I feel has too much information already. I

 feel torn about the status updates on Facebook. In a way, it's a good forum to express myself. But it's there for everyone, or rather every "friend" to read. There are some people who are my "friends" on Facebook who I wouldn't really call my friends. Should they really know about what I feel and think about every day? 

 This whole social networking thing has changed the definition of what a "friend" means and it certainly has changed what "stalking" means. Is it considered stalking if I follow a stranger's activities on a social media site, without them knowing? Unless they have changed their default privacy settings, I know which events they plan to attend, I know who their friends are, I know what movies they like and I know what they are talking about on the walls of their friends. Most of all, I can see all their photos. Is that stalking? 

Like it or not, this social networking phenomenon is here to stay. Welcome to the age of digital privacy, or lack thereof. For now, I am buying stocks of software security companies. While preference for Google or Yahoo, Facebook or MySpace may change, the need for secure information isnt going to go away.