


Facebook A Black Hole For Personal Info 242
Hugh Pickens writes "The NY Times has an article on how Facebook is so sticky it is nearly impossible to get loose. While the Web site offers users the option to deactivate their accounts, Facebook servers keep copies of the information in those accounts indefinitely. Many users who have contacted Facebook to request that their accounts be deleted have not succeeded in erasing their records from the network. 'It's like the Hotel California,' said Nipon Das, a user who tried unsuccessfully to delete his account. 'You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.' It took Mr. Das two months and several e-mail exchanges with Facebook's customer service representatives to erase most of his information from the site, which finally occurred after he sent an e-mail threatening legal action. But even after that, a reporter was able to find Mr. Das's empty profile on Facebook and successfully sent him an e-mail message through the network. Facebook's quiet archiving of information from deactivated accounts has increased concerns about the network's potential abuse of private data, especially in the wake of its fumbled Beacon advertising feature."
Good (Score:3, Interesting)
Fuck privacy. Here's to transparency and the death of hypocrisies!
Easy Solution (Score:5, Interesting)
And how do you delete a SLASHDOT account? (Score:5, Interesting)
Kicked out? (Score:5, Interesting)
I closed my account and get nagged all the time (Score:5, Interesting)
After deactivating the account, I saw that a lot of my information is still retained, and I'm CONSTANTLY getting e-mails from facebook saying "so and so wants to be your friend! reactivate your account!" and also messages from "Facebook" on AIM saying essentially the same.
I really wish that they took the hint "If someone deactivates their account, odds are they want to stop being involved in the site"
Deactivate doesn't deactivate (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:It's been done (Score:5, Interesting)
1. Delete your photo
2. Delete Comments and messages you wrote
3. Delete your friends from your friends list.
4. Leave all your networks and groups you have joined.
5. Delete all your photo albums.
Sounds like an awful lot of work. Here's an alternate suggestion...also a bit of work, but definitely more enjoyable.
From the Facebook Terms of Service:
Re:Facebook Terms of Service (Score:5, Interesting)
The legal question here is: what is the definition of an "archive", as the term is used by Facebook?
Re:Easy Solution (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:New Idea (Score:5, Interesting)
Tech giants Microsoft, IBM, Google and Yahoo have joined the board of the Open ID Foundation which aims to streamline login systems across the web.
The Foundation wants to bring about a system that could mean one ID acts as a guarantor of a person's identity across all the sites they have signed up for.
Oh good, so I only have to have one online identity compromised in order for them all to be compromised. I hope it's not just us slashdotters who think this is a bad idea.
Re:Good (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:New Idea (Score:5, Interesting)
For most users, having their primary email address compromised leads to the same situation, so the transition to Open ID won't really change anything, except it allows you and your Open ID provider to pick the level of authentication, rather than the provider of whatever service you want to use.
Re:And how do you delete a SLASHDOT account? (Score:3, Interesting)
I wanted to, some 3 or so years ago, when I switched nicks. Why? I'd established a reasonable reputation with my previous account, and didn't want anyone to abuse the rep*.
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* Plus, I like to keep my online aliases "clean", by deleting the ones I no longer use. I don't mind leaving the information up, so long as the account is inaccessible.
Re:Good (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Kicked out? (Score:3, Interesting)
Wiki on the Data Protection Act [wikipedia.org]
"5. Personal data processed for any purpose or purposes shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes."
Argue that once the account is deactivated the data is no longer necessary. Facebook has an office in London now (for sales, I think) so they need to comply with the law here.
And if you aren't a UK citizen, just join the London network and pretend.