Christmas time is here…

We did our big Christmas thing last night, with a huge feast, the traditional live tweeting of A Christmas Story, and the joy of being with the people you love most (which is always a good thing, but seems especially joyful this time of year.)

The kids (who are actually adults, but will always be “the kids” to me) woke me up at 10 this morning, and I was grateful for the extra sleep. It turns out that, even when your kids are adults, you still find yourself awake after midnight wrapping presents on the floor with your wife. Holiday tradition and all that, you see.

While I drank my coffe, the dogs and cats got gifts from Santa in their stockings (yes, we’re those people) and accepted them in the usual manner: disinterest from the cats, and excitement measured in megatons from the dogs. After the dogs retreated to their particular spots with their new chew toys, we opened our gifts to and from each other. If you look really hard, you can see the greatest thing in the world that Anne got me.

While my kids opened their gifts, I replayed nearly two decades of Christmas mornings together.  I remembered their joy and excitement when they got a bike or a basketball or the new Harry Potter thing. I remembered being so exhausted from staying up most of the night to assemble something I could hardly see straight, but being so happy when Ryan or Nolan exploded with joy upon opening it. There were bikes and rollerblades and skateboards and basketball hoops and remote controlled cars, and even though all of those things are long gone, the memories we built together on every Christmas Eve and Christmas Day — the joy of being with the people we love — endure.

I’m so grateful to be with my family today, and so proud of the young men Anne and I raised. All I wanted for Christmas was to be with my family, and Santa delivered. Big time.

regarding instagram’s new TOS

So Instagram is now going to use photos taken by its users in advertising, and they may or may not disclose to viewers when the advertising is happening.

I have no idea how this will actually work, and I’m once again glad that I don’t use Instagram … but I know a lot of people who do, and many of those people are celebrities to some degree.

Here’s what I’m wondering: if Kaley Cuoco uses Instagram to share a photo of her and Melissa Rauch doing something silly, does that mean that Instagram can take that photo and use it to advertise for something silly without compensating them for what becomes a use of their likeness for commercial purposes? I can see that being a pretty serious shitstorm if it happens. I’m not a big enough celebrity for it to personally affect me, but I know a lot of people who are. If someone Instagrams a photo of Seth Green walking through an Urban Outfitters, does that mean Urban Outfitters can take that image and use it to create an implied endorsement by Seth? What if the picture is taken by a complete stranger? Who gets final say in how the image is used? The subject, the photographer, or Instagram?

This sort of dovetails with similar concern I have about the automatic opt-in nature of much of our digital life: if I’m in someone’s address book, and they use an app that grants the developer full, unfettered access to their address book, I’ve now had my information given without my consultation or consent to a developer who I know nothing about, and I never even knew it was happening.

Just as we have a “do not track” option for our webbrowsing habits, we’re going to need to have something similar for other aspects of our increasingly-digital lives: from contact information to our location to moving and still images of ourselves. Because it’s no longer enough for me to be careful with my opt-ins and online sharing; now I have to ensure that every single person around me is careful and respectful of my privacy wishes, as well.