So the notoriously shy and retiring Randi Zuckerberg, who has never traded on her better-known billionaire brother's success and influence to further her own ambitions, has decided to grace the world with what the Associated Press describes as a "memoir/lifestyle book" about her time at Facebook. Titled, naturally, Dot Complicated, which coincidentally is also what the demure Ms. Z calls her invitation-only "modern lifestyle newsletter." About which a little more in a moment.

A Good Zuckraking

What's RZ going to tell us? HarperCollins tells us she'll relate her "entrepreneurial journey" through her time at Facebook and beyond. You can probably count on her to give a whitewashed version of her parting of the ways with Facebook, which so far sounds pretty spicy. (Ms. Zuck herself has previously described herself at the time as being "a little irresponsible with my creativity" and going "a little rogue.")

You'll also doubtless be fascinated to learn that RZ'berg will also enlighten the masses on – believe it or not – "the multifaceted complications of our socially transparent world today, including issues of privacy, social identity, authenticity, crowd sourcing and the future of social change." Surely the ethics and human decency of photo sharing deserves its own chapter.

(See also Yes, Randi Zuckerberg, Please Lecture Us About 'Human Decency')

But wait, that's not all! Dot Complicated will also come as an enhanced e-book with "innovative and engaging interactive components," including a "platform for crowd sourced stories and social media integration" – whatever that is. Who wants to wager that Ms. Zuck will herself skillfully navigate the multifaceted complications of our socially transparent world by steering entirely clear of any controversies involving privacy, social identity, authenticity, crowd sourcing and the future of social change?

The divine Ms. Z had this to say for herself in the HarperCollins press release:

Technology has changed virtually every part of our lives, resulting in a modern, digital society that feels a lot like the wild, wild west. I am thrilled to be working with HarperCollins to share some of my own crazy experiences on the front lines of social media, and to inspire people of all ages to embrace technology, as well as the new set of social norms that come along with it.

As for what to expect from the "lifestyle" parts of the book, you can't do better than to sample Z's Dot Complicated newsletter and blog. (Invites to the newsletter are apparently pretty easy to come by, as I had no trouble acquiring one – though you never know when the velvet rope will go up.) The blog, for instance, currently features:

• Helpful business tips such as "Today, tech companies need to go to crazy extremes to stay 'hip' and recruit top talent" (from a post about tech-firm Harlem Shake videos that completely coincidentally leads off with two clips from the textbook-rental startup Chegg where ArrZee's husband works)
• Reviews of "ridiculous dating apps," including one that purports to rate your bedroom performance via smartphone motion/sound sensors and a timer
• Shout-outs to RandiZ's famous friends

But even a talent as unassuming as Randi Zuckerberg can't be confined to one book. She'll also publish a children's picture book simultaneously with Dot Complicated, about which she and HarperCollins had virtually nothing else to say. If you needed a new reason to fear for the next generation, you're apparently in luck.

Both books are due out in the fall. At least you have plenty of time to brace yourself.

Photo via Flickr user nrkbeta.no under CC 2.0 license.

Randi complained that this was "way uncool." The friend apologized for her mistake. Lots of people had a laugh about how this just shows again how stupid and confusing Facebook's privacy settings are, as in, "Hey, even the Zuckerbergs can't figure this stuff out!"

Out Of Proportion?

But then Randi took everything to a whole new level of mental when she summed the whole thing up with a tweet: "Digital etiquette: always ask permission before posting a friend's photo publicly. It's not about privacy settings, it's about human decency." 

Yes, she said that: human decency. Because this dumb issue about her dumb photograph is that important.

It's so important, in fact, that now Randi Zuckerberg, a not-universally-acclaimed aspiring chanteuse who rocks Silicon Valley with an awesome band called Feedbomb, as well as producer of a terrible reality series about Silicon Valley (See Bravo's Silicon Valley: The Painful Truth Behind A Caricature Of Excess), as well as sister of the guy who created that beacon of morality known as Facebook, would like to use this as a teaching moment in which she can instruct the world about basic human decency.

Let's acknowledge that Randi Zuckerberg is not Mark Zuckerberg. But let's also acknowledge that she has benefited tremendously from her brother's creation.

And what is that creation?

• A company that has made billions by gathering people's personal information and using it to sell ads;
• A company whose original privacy statement was a simple sentence but now is longer than the U.S. Constitution and requires a law degree to understand;
• A company that has continually pushed people to "share" more of their private information in order to use Facebook;
• A company that just four days ago was criticized by the Electronic Frontier Foundation for yet another creepy experiment that would let people pay money to send mail to your inbox, which is just the latest in a long line of criticisms brought by the EFF;
• A company that once claimed it wasn't tracking users when they were logged off, only to turn around and admit that it was, just before someone reported that Facebook in fact had applied for and received a patent on technology that would do exactly that;
• A company that once got caught trying to run a clumsy covert smear campaign against Google;
• A company that once settled claims brought by the FTC that charged Facebook had deceived consumers and violated federal law;
• A company that ran a scuzzy IPO marred by allegations of self-dealing, one in which insiders got info about weak revenues and backed away from the deal even as Facebook was touting the stock to suckers, raising both the price of the shares and the number of shares for sale;
• A company that has since been the subject of an investigation by the state of Massachusetts. which led to fines levied against its bankers and fears that authorities "will throw the book at Facebook" in 2013 and that "the real liability to Facebook and Morgan Stanley is yet to come";
• A company whose Instagram subsidiary recently caused outrage by changing its terms of service but then walked those changes back.

Yes, Randi Zuckerberg, speak to us about human decency.

Because a photo that you posted on Facebook got shared on the Internet.

How awful this must have been for you! How... invasive. What a violation. How terrible that someone might take something that belongs to you and use it in ways that you had not anticipated, and for which you had not given explicit permission!

What kind of world are we living in when just because you post something on a website someone else can just take your stuff and do things with it?

Oh wait.