The media got itself into a tizz recently over the shock announcement that over one million Facebook users have had their details published online for the world to see.
The Daily Telegraph announced "Facebook Security Fears After Private Details of 100m Users Leaked to Web!" This is one of those occasions where a pinch of salt comes in very handy.
You see what Security Specialist Ron Bowes has done is to collate the public details of around a million Facebook users and transfer them onto a downloadable torrent.
In order to download the torrent you first need to download something else that will enable you to download and open torrents.
Are you still with me? What will happen then is that you get a list of names (no pictures) along with details such as region, date of birth, job title and so on.
But you only get these details if that Facebook user has allowed those details to be public.
Let me put it another way.
If you searched for a friend on Facebook, the details you would be given are the details Mr Bowes has collated.
So all Mr Bowes has done is to prove that the public details given on Facebook are in fact, erm, public.
I wonder how many hours it took him to prove that? In fact Mr Bowes has probably done the social networking world a favour.
Many people who would not give out their personal details to strangers would happily publish them on Facebook for all to see.
This includes family photographs, place of work and even contact details.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg once referred to his Facebook users, the people who have made him a fortune, as "dumb fucks" for uploading all their personal information onto his then fledgling Facebook site.
He may have a point.
Have you noticed, for instance, that the advertisements on Facebook seem to be directed at you personally? No you are not getting paranoid, there is a reason for this and that is that Mark Zuckerberg has 'sold' your private details such as age, marital status, gender and whether you have kids or not to advertisers who can then target you specifically with their ads and banners.
Did you give him consent for this? Well yes, when you signed up for Facebook you also signed up to give away your details to a multi-billion dollar company and a man who thinks you are a "dumb fuck".
There is, rather ironically, a Facebook group called I Hate Facebook.
The irony being that you have to join Facebook to join the group.
A rather lame protest if ever there was one.
However a growing number of people such as George Clooney, are choosing to publicly shun Facebook.
In fact Mr Clooney is quoted as saying: "I'd rather have a rectal examination on live TV by a fellow with cold hands than have a Facebook page.
" He is not alone in his feelings.
Yet can we really afford to turn our backs on what has now become a social norm? Whatever did we do before Facebook? Well, actually, pretty much the same as we do now.
Facebook is just a tool for self-promotion.
Some people have competitions to see how many 'friends' they can collect to make themselves seem popular.
It matters not that they have no idea who half of these people are.
Our likes and dislikes are displayed for anyone who cares, we can share our innermost thoughts with people who are too busy sharing their own innermost thoughts to read yours.
Oh yes, Facebook really has revolutionised the super-ego complex.
Freud would be most proud!