If you didn't live on Mars for the last week (something that might become a reality sooner than we think, by the way) then you know about the huge Cambridge Analytica scandal. Everybody and their mother is talking about it, and even Mark himself gave a humble interview on CNN, apologizing and promising he'll do better next time.

So, what happened?

In short: a social engineering company going by the name of Cambridge Analytica got access to millions of Facebook users profiles, and allegedly used that data to influence the political elections result in a few countries, US and Romania among them.

While this is not something entirely new, the extent to which social engineering went to, namely to influence popular elections, is very new.

And legitimately frightening.

We're in the middle of a privacy crisis and Facebook is just a symptom of it. There is so much data floating around and so little education about how to protect that data.

Every time you fart in public, there are a few data watchers that will record meta information about the place where you farted, the people who were around that place when you farted, about what the weather was at the moment of farting, about what you ate just before you farted, from whom, how much you paid for it and so on and so forth.

And the problem with this huge amount of data is that it can be used without your knowledge to influence your decisions: from what to buy, to who to marry or who to elect as the president of your country. No, this is not a joke.

The way you see the world right now can be influenced in undetectable ways in order to create a favorable context for a specific choice somebody else wants to trigger in you.

Of course, that somebody needs to have huge amounts of money to get access to all the tools to create that context. Of course, there must be some complicity (tacit or just inadvertent) from the owner of that data (in this case, Facebook) but the possibility is not only real, it already manifested.

So, what can you do?

There is good news, and there is bad news.

Let's start with the bad news: this trend is unstoppable. We need more and more data in our lives and our own worth in certain contexts is based on how much data we can generate. So just unplugging yourself from this mean world and fleeing on a remote island, where you will live happily ever after, drinking mojitos and watching sunsets, is no longer an option. We are all part of this new data whirlwind and we need to cope with it, one way or another.

And here's the good news: for these data hunters you're not actually a target, unless you do something.

Let me explain.

You don't need to delete your Facebook account. You just need to be very careful what you do there. And by doing I mean a lot of stuff: from direct interaction, like posting there and liking and sharing other content, to where you go with your phone which has Facebook on it. That's right. If you fire up Facebook on your phone and then leave it running in the background, it will keep recording that data. Of course, if we were to give in to paranoia completely, even the phone itself records every step you walk, but we already decided we can't escape this trend.

Back to what you do on Facebook. For the last few months, I drastically reduced my Facebook input. Meaning I didn't post, liked or shared something for a few months (there are other reasons for that, though, I just got bored). So, for the last few months, I keep getting the same ads, I'm not added as a friend by anyone, it feels like my existence just got frozen in time, at the exact moment when I stopped interacting.

So, you're not relevant to the people wanting to sell you something, unless you express a choice. Until you make a move, until you nudge some bits, letting them know about a preference you hold for something.

If you're still on Facebook, but you don't interact, just consume content, then you don't exist.

That's what I mean by being passive-aggressive towards Facebook. You keep your account - and you add to the numbers that Mark is bragging with - but you don't do anything.

You know what will happen if everybody on Facebook will do the same?

Exactly.

From that moment on, Facebook will cease to exist. It will be a dead project with 2 billion registered users.

Because, and I want you to remember this: if you're not paying for something (with money, with your time, with your knowledge or otherwise), then you are the product being sold.

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I'm a serial entrepreneur, blogger and ultrarunner. You can find me mainly on my blog at Dragos Roua where I write about productivity, business, relationships and running. Here on Steemit you may stay updated by following me @dragosroua.

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