Saturday, May 22, 2010

A lot more Facebook Accounts Deleted Because Of Privacy

More Users Delete Facebook Accounts Over Privacy Concerns

You can go ahead and join the crowd if you’re considering deleting your Facebook account. In April, Facebook started a program where they give out personal details, not only to friends, but to anyone who looks it up on the internet. People seem to be more concerned about Facebook privacy issues and what Facebook is doing with their personal information. Privacy advocates, politicians and web superstars are publicly announcing they are deleting their Facebook accounts.

Deleting Facebook accounts for privacy’s sake

More people are deleting Facebook accounts forever because most of their personal information is now fair game unless they manually block it. Blogger Mat McKeon reports that when Facebook was founded, in 2005, it restricted a user’s personal info to just friends and their network. These last few years, Facebook default privacy settings for every person's personal information is now as permissive as payday loans no fax. Now anybody can access your info except your birthday and contact data. Facebook has also changed how your personal data is classified several times in ways that many users see as deliberately confusing.

Make certain to update your Facebook privacy settings

McKeon isn't suggesting individuals delete their accounts and he isn't either. He gets it that Facebook is trying to make money off of the details 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 information from where you live to the movies you like and also the individuals you trust. The Wall Street Journal reports that some high-profile members of the tech community, like Google search-engine guru Matt Cutts and Engadget co-founder Peter Rojas, have announced recently that they were preparing on deactivating their Facebook accounts, a step that shuts down but doesn't delete the Facebook account completely.

How am I to permanently delete my Facebook account?

To delete your Facebook account forever isn’t as simple as point and click. It is easy to deactivate your account which will only hide your info temporarily. As outlined by wikiHow, it is much a lot more difficult to find the "permanent delete" option. This wikiHow article surely answers the question: How do I delete my Facebook account forever?

Privacy issues with Facebook

A top Google search recently has been "delete Facebook account". After Facebook's developer conference a couple of weeks ago, ABC News reports the latest backlash began brewing. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled several changes he said would make the Web a lot more social and personalized by expanding Facebook’s presence to other online websites. On thousands of sites a “social plug-in” now lets users “like” content and see what their Facebook friends have liked, directly from those online websites.

Facebook privacy violations

By default, now Facebook gives third-party companies access to members’ names, friend lists and hobbies to “personalize” their surfing experience. When a Facebook user logs onto a site with the Facebook social plug-in, the content displayed is shaped by the personal information in their Facebook account, also as the personal data of their friends. If you want this feature to stop, a manual request is required.

Facebook privacy advocates

People upset about Facebook privacy policies have a powerful 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.

Numerous plan to delete Facebook account forever

Facebook hasn't done anything to help its Facebook privacy problem. In a Q and A session with the New York Times this week Elliot Schrage, Facebook's vice president for public policy, responded to all of the privacy concerns by saying that participating in Facebook is "a choice." He said "Please don't share if you're not comfortable.". Numerous individuals are taking that advice.

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/



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