I understand the complaint, but in this day and age, that's like being annoyed that your microwave and VCR have clocks. Everything is a social networking site now. I had to think for a minute in order to not include some form of profiles and user-to-user messaging in the last app I wrote.
I think it's just a generation gap, though—being younger, I grew up without any expectation of privacy from strangers, and I don't see anything wrong with that, really. I know that everyone else has just as many trite details floating around about them as I do, so there's no reason to single me out. It's like the sociological warfare of cars getting a steering-wheel-locking device/alarm/what have you, but in reverse: every person that removes their car's security is one more person reducing the probability that my car will be the one to get stolen.
That's fine until ten years from now someone really wants to make an ass out of you -- not your friends, not random people, but you -- and go on a digging spree.
That sort of security by obscurity only works until someone starts looking with a specific thing in mind.
* Rips the clock out of the vcr. *, That was fun, great analogy, but how do the generational gaps get jumped? Intereestingly enough it's pretty easy for me to rip Buzz out of Gmail, its the constant "he doesn't get it" whispering that bugs people. Everyone tries to advertise to new users, but its hard to do without seeming unnecessary or even evil to so many. I had the same observation of twitter, but they weren't part of millions of users email. I think Google will get over the evil hump this time though, for now it looks like an inevitable backlash to how fast they are growing a user base.
I think it's just a generation gap, though—being younger, I grew up without any expectation of privacy from strangers, and I don't see anything wrong with that, really. I know that everyone else has just as many trite details floating around about them as I do, so there's no reason to single me out. It's like the sociological warfare of cars getting a steering-wheel-locking device/alarm/what have you, but in reverse: every person that removes their car's security is one more person reducing the probability that my car will be the one to get stolen.