There are several words in our language whose meaning Facebook has altered -- for better... no, for worse, kkthx. First "Friend." Now "Like."

With all the recent press about Facebook's latest initiatives and ongoing questions about its commitment to privacy issues, I gotta say, I am not at all pleased to see them make a grab to (re)define the word "open."

When I see Inside Facebook point to an infographic about the company's changing privacy policies and describe it as evidence that the company is becoming "more open," -- I gotta say, it appears as though we need a primer here on some Key Tech Terms.

Namely "open."

I would venture here to say that "open" is poised to become one of the most important adjectives of the 21st century and by that, I mean that battle for what the term means will be absolutely crucial if we hope that the Internet as we know it remains. (Or we can just hand over our identity to the Hamburglar. It's your future, people!) With Facebook pulling all its 400+ million users' personal data into their closed system, I really do worry what the Web will look like.

Because even though Facebook has called its latest move the "open graph," I just don't see Facebook as "open."

It's not open source.

It's not open social.

It's not "open like."

(For the record, YAY OAuth and OpenID)

It's not really open for the user or the app developer.

In fact, it seems like it's just us opening up our world for Facebook, so that FB in turn can sell our data to marketers.

I do hope that just as we saw amazing innovations in terms of open source alternatives to Microsoft's browser and Office software, that we will see folks challenge FB -- all in the name of a truly "open web."

Literary sidenote and an apology: From time to time, folks say "hey, I noticed you were a lit major..." and YES I CONFESS, I know way more about the great works of fiction than I do the great works of coding.

And I am sorry, but when I think of the word "open" in terms of all of this Facebook bullshit, I can't help but recall Mercutio's speech in Romeo and Juliet (LOOK IT UP -- Act 2, Scene 1. It's "open" info.):

O Romeo, that she were, O, that she were An open arse, thou a pop'rin pear! I should note here, that the "open arse" is often sanitized as "the open etcetera" (because we'd all be far too shocked by Shakespeare's bawdy references).

And I'll explain for those who don't spent much time interpreting late 16th century drama, that Mercutio is arguing that it's a shame Juliet doesn't put out.

But I will also add here that I am not really equipped to speak sensibly, after too much wine and consternation, about Shakespeare or coding or Facebook, and, well... yeah, Mercutio. The open arse. The open graph. And stuff.

You figure it out.