Changing What You Write Should Be Up To You.

       Let's be honest, how many of you think the government is secretly doing things to your mind for the purpose of trying to make you more accepting of their rules? How about doing things to you in order to hide wrongdoings on their part? Or for the sake of research? These are conspiracy theories, but what about the private sector? Do they do such things? Well, if you think anyone is doing such things, it's probably the government, right?
       Well, as it turns out, Facebook is the culprit here. Facebook changed the status of somewhere around 100,000 people's entries to make them more positive. They did it to see if it would change their emotional states or their viewers states. It did, but that's not what was such a big deal. The big deal was that a website so heavily patronized as Facebook had the gall to just do it without consent or foreknowledge of the people involved. Why did they do it? Mainly because they could.
       So now the question is: did they break any laws and will they be punished if they did? Well, I think first somebody has to make a formal complaint and then show how they were harmed by the actions of the perp (Facebook). Ya know, I don't think there are any laws that cover what they did, And, let me say, here and now, that the author of the study has apologized. He's sorry for what he did. He said he's "very sorry." But at the same time, in the next breath, he defends the study as important research.
       Being sorry and saying so is what these folks should have been studying. It's become a fine art. It's been pretty well refined and perfected by politicians. No matter what one might have done. A good apologizer can end up looking like the injured party. A good "I'm Sorry" can even get you elected if you're good at it. Or in the case of these researchers at Facebook, it could get them a promotion. If they do a good job of apologizing. And as for Facebook, they'll most likely come out on top because of all the posts people are gonna make just to see if theirs got edited. And the folks who got theirs edited, well they may become celebrities over it.