Alain Guillot

Life, Leadership, and Money Matters

006 Interview with B.J. Mendelson, author of Privacy

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This is my first interview.

Headshot of B.J. MendelsonMy guest is B.J. Mendelson, a keynote speaker, and author.

His first book was Social Media Is Bullshit where he debunks the hype around social media. Social media is not all that it’s made out to be as far as marketing one’s products or services. Marketers try to sell it as the be-all and end-all product, but the return on time and capital is very poor.

His second book Privacy: And How We Can Get It Back talks about how the big internet companies collect our data, buy it, and sell it to the highest bidder. The ironic thing is that this valuable asset, our personal data, we happily and willingly give it away and broadcast it all the time, in exchange for a few moments of internet attention.

You can find B.J. Mendelson in Twitter.

Highlights of the interview with B.J Mendelson

      • Most people don’t know how our data is being collected, used, bought, and sold by all the social media companies.
      • People could be denied job opportunities or rental housing due to the data collected on them.
      • The police department could create a profile of a person based on their social media data.
      • Snowden did nothing wrong. Obama should have pardoned him.
      • Government surveillance is ineffective.
      • Advertising in Google & Facebook is not as effective as we are being led to believe.
      • Summary of the book: “Assume nothing is private (page 90).”
      • FREE: Download the audio version of the book via podcast. (iTunes,  Stitcher, and YouTube.)
      • Stay tuned for B.J. Mendelson’s next book: Don’t Be Evil, a short guide to being a successful human.
      • FREE: Get Social Media Is Bullshit for free by texting 646 331 8341 and type the word Sheetrock. You will get a pdf copy of the book.

      “Assume nothing is private”

    • Books Mentioned

      • Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy
      • The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life
      • Lincoln and the Power of the Press: The War for Public Opinion