Personally, I'm getting creeped out by Facebook and seriously considering deactivating my account. I don't claim that Facebook doesn't matter, as David Kirkpatrick accuses Facebook's critics of saying. My problem is the way Mark Zuckerberg makes decisions with my personal information. Zuckerberg has said that everything should be public with your friends . . . and with companies that Facebook can make money with. It seems to me that Zuckerberg has the attitude that once you post stuff on Facebook, it's as much HIS as it is yours. Remember, once you've posted something on Facebook, it's there forever.
Facebook is a good way to keep up with what your friends are doing, but it's so much more than that.
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Deleting a facebook account is the only way to properly dispose of anything you've posted online. Unless facebook doesn't follow it's own privacy code, it's obligated to comply with your request for deletion by fully removing all information you ever posted. It's actually as if you've never been there and you can never get it back. However, there is a catch. You have to delete it in a certain manner. To do this, you must delete all cookies and past history in all of your existing internet browsers as well as ignore all RSS-type feeds and Facebook-Connect buttons you see on other sites. Then you have to wait a full two weeks for the profile to disappear. If you attempt to login or interact in any way with facebook...well your account is no longer scheduled for deletion...I basically rehashed any instruction you could find in a help thread but that's essentially how it works.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if things on facebook actually stay there "forever". Perhaps in the future this may become the case, but for now the amount of traffic as well as the data required to store all of the information would be far to great to keep a full record. In fact, I actually participate in many websites where after a certain amount of posts, time etc, the thread will actually 404 and can no longer be accessed by anyone - automatic deletion. This ensures the privacy of the client is protected as well as the maintenance of flow of information on the site itself.
The concerns of information never leaving the internet are plausible, but not completely valid. Even digital information has an expiration date.
Alex, I think you make the point perfectly. Most users think "delete" means "delete, remove, destroy"; not "delete as long as you follow all these other steps." They also keep changing their privacy policy. Once again, you make the case very clearly - read the privacy policy and the fine print!
ReplyDelete