If you’re thinking about deleting your Facebook account forever, join the crowd. In April, Facebook launched new features that extend the personal details of Facebook users from their friends and network to the Internet at large. People appear to be more concerned about Facebook privacy issues and what Facebook is doing with their personal information. Politicians, web superstars, and privacy advocates have announced that they’re deleting their Facebook accounts.
Individuals deleting Facebook accounts for privacy reasons
More people are deleting Facebook accounts forever because most of their personal data is now fair game unless they manually block it. Blogger Mat McKeon reports that when Facebook was founded, way back in 2005, it restricted a user’s personal information to just friends and their network. These last few years, Facebook default privacy settings for each person's personal information is now as permissive as payday loans no fax. Now anything but your contact information and birthday could be accessed by everyone. Facebook also changes how personal details is classified which users think is confusing.
Facebook privacy setting have to updated
McKeon isn't suggesting people delete their accounts and he isn't either. He gets it that Facebook is trying to make money off of the info they get with their free service. But he does strongly advocates double and triple checking your privacy settings for a personal profile that could be giving out details from where you live to the movies you like and also the people you trust. The Wall Street Journal reports that some members of the tech community, such as Google search-engine guru Matt Cutts and Engadget co-founder Peter Rojas, have announced that they were deactivating their Facebook accounts, a step that shuts down but doesn't delete the Facebook account entirely.
How to permanently delete my Facebook account?
Permanently deleting your Facebook account won't be as simple as a click. Facebook makes it super easy to deactivate your account making your details temporarily unavailable. But as outlined by wikiHow, if you need to permanently remove your information, the “permanent delete" option is much harder to discover. This article on wikiHow answers the question: How do I delete my Facebook account forever?
Facebook privacy issues
Lately, "delete Facebook account" has been a huge Google search term. After Facebook's developer conference a couple of weeks ago, ABC News reports the latest backlash began brewing. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a number of changes he said would make the Web more social and personalized by expanding Facebook’s presence to other online websites. On thousands of online websites a “social plug-in” now lets users “like” content and see what their Facebook friends have liked, directly from those online websites.
Facebook and privacy violations
Facebook by default is now giving third party companies member's friends lists, names, and hobbies. When a Facebook user logs onto a site with the Facebook social plug-in, the content displayed is shaped by all of the personal info in their Facebook account, also as any personal details of their friends. To disable this feature, a manual opt-out is required.
Privacy advocates on Facebook
People upset about Facebook privacy policies have legislator on their side. “With great power comes great responsibility, and sites like Facebook have great responsibility,” Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said at a news conference a week after Facebook’s announcements. “In my view, it ought to be the user who determines who gets what information, not Facebook.” Schumer asked the Federal Trade Commission to create some guidelines for Facebook and other social networks to follow.
People delete Facebook account forever
Facebook hasn't done anything to help its Facebook privacy problem. In a Q and A session with readers of the New York Times this week Elliot Schrage, Facebook's vice president for public policy, responded to privacy concerns by saying that participating in Facebook is "a choice." He said "Please don't share if you're not comfortable.". That advice is being taken by many.
Article Resources
Mat McKeon reports
http://mattmckeon.com/facebook-privacy/
Wall Street Journal reports
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/05/14/looking-to-delete-your-facebook-account-youre-not-alone/
No comments:
Post a Comment