I killed myself on Facebook, and lived to tell the tale

Wayne says:

07:03am | 21/09/09

Yes you are right! I found that out myself just last week. My kids encouraged me to join up but I was not happy with the amount of information and the potential abuse of it so I shut it down. My wife wanted to check so followed our old link and sure enough, Welcome back to Facebook. I worked out though that most of my friends have way too much free time on their hands and that young people just don’t understand that the difference between public and private.

Laurel Papworth says:

08:30am | 21/09/09

Tough.
Sorry hon but having worked on social networks where predators/stalkers contact their prey, do their thing, then delete their account within minutes, I recommend to companies NEVER delete accounts.
Putting your profile in hidden mode hurts you less than the victims of a vicious minority.
... sounds like you aren’t really into keeping up with friends and family ata distance or extended social network anyway? Is there another SN you prefer - because no online community manager that wants to provide minimal safety to members will allow IP addresses and content/connections to be deleted.

This is an old story - I’ve got a post ‘Facebook don’t remove deleted accounts’ lying around somewhere from 2 years ago

Kai says:

08:49am | 21/09/09

Hahah… enjoyed that one mate! Nicely put!

Steve Hopkins says:

09:02am | 21/09/09

Great work on getting yourself out! I’ve been thinking about that very same question the last 2 weeks or so, since I watched the preso at the latest bar camp about the amount of data that’s available through their API.

I haven’t pulled the plug just yet though…

Watch this space

The_Mainlander says:

09:18am | 21/09/09

I registered my name, then promptly discontinued the service back in 2007. That was me, I work in Marketing so I knew what they were up to. Also, they can sell your ‘profile data’ and provide beahavioral analytics to improve consumer marketing campaigns. The gold in FB is the latent data they can link for customers on-demand. This is the real revenue stream the research data. This is resaerch ‘users’ provide free to FB - think about this for a moment.

They will keep ‘threads’ of your data on their servers forever. These Threads work like algorythms and essentailly are a mirror of all your data and can not be deleted (Their Private servers/databases which up-link to the user server network). It is ‘like’ Microsoft Outlook. When you delete on your inbox you think it is gone, except the ‘original’ copy is held on the Microsoft Exchange Server - until the ‘mailman’ either backs-up the ME server or deletes it (more likely backs it up) this means all those email you sent/profile data can be archived and held to be referenced in the future.

There is no privacy with work email, there is no privacy with FB.

I think we need a new form of Caveat Emptor for the Internet it should be Interretiarii Cautus or Internet User beware!

Irena says:

09:21am | 21/09/09

I think there are tons of people who would like to or know they should leave Facebook but:

a) they feel too invested in it, chunks of their lives have been recorded in this ‘personal’ history book
b) they will be missing out on party invites, announcements of baby births, weddings and break-ups and that crazy photo from Friday night, whatever they find super important to be aware of
c) this is a scary one that I think we’re all guilty of in one way or another, they won’t be able to ‘snoop’ around anymore
d) they don’t have any other outlet to tell people what they had for lunch and how many times they pooped
e) finally, it’s just too complicated like an abusive relationship

Wiesel says:

09:55am | 21/09/09

This story is like so many others until the last line. That line makes the story, glad I read to the end.

George Barnett says:

09:57am | 21/09/09

Laurel.

For exactly this reason, companies are required to keep data for a certain period of time.  This data can then be requested by court order by the various authorities.  Data retention laws vary by country, but is usually around 2 years.

This however *isn’t* an invitation for somebody like facebook to only de-activate your account when you request a deletion.

Following the legal minimum storage requirements, they have an obligation to remove your data at your request.  Not doing so is no cool at all.

Mark says:

10:15am | 21/09/09

What is that about them still storing data on your computer?
Saying that sort of thing makes me think you have little idea what you are talking about,
Short of some facebook Trojan that i am unaware of and no secirty site has mentioned, you store data on your computer, your browaser stores data on your comptuer, All facebook does is give you cookies and sends you emails.
sure they can store it on their servers,
But you agreed to that along giving them three head of cattle seven donkeys and your firstborn etc etc when you agreed to their EULA, unless you were smart enough to get your cat to agree to it instead

Jimbo Jones says:

10:20am | 21/09/09

I have a totally fictitious facebook account, my ‘real’ ‘friends’ are attached.  I’ve had it since facebook had under 10000 users.  I agree under 30’s post wildly inappropriate details at the site (one ‘friend’ catalogued his emotional/relationship frustration over a period of three months - it was frightening and frankly, deeply disturbing and I no longer meet him alone or after dark or much at all to be honest, he still sends me creepy ‘requests’ to meet up… and I ignore them).  They’ve been hoarding details since day one, the majority of the details I provide are a pack of whopping lies.  Where am I going with this?  Facebook fear seems to be all the rage now but maybe it’s just a case that those people are just catching up to what has been bleedingly obvious to anyone with a bit of tech savvy/know how for a long time now.  I’ll continue to rort the facebook system until they delete me themselves… then I’ll just open a new fictitious account and so on, and so on….

Lachlan Hardy says:

10:22am | 21/09/09

Hi Laurel!

As George says, just because they may have legal obligations (or it may simply good CYA corporate practice) to preserve the data for some time, that doesn’t mean that information should be surfaced in the user interface.

JS says:

10:31am | 21/09/09

I don’t know what’s more self-indulgent… a facebook page, or a blog about one’s tortured experience of growing old and out of touch. This is presented as information, but is just a scare tactic.

kel says:

10:34am | 21/09/09

sometimes I do wish I had never gone down the facebook road….
But I fear it’s too late to turn back!

Lachlan Hardy says:

10:57am | 21/09/09

Mark,
Cookies *are* the ‘data on your computer’ I was referring to.

Jimbo,
Do you believe there is a distinction between the details you’ve provided for your fictitious account and your behaviour within it? Sure, Facebook are missing some connections because you’re not using your real name, location or age, but much of their advertising and demographic pattern-matching will be based on what they observe you do within the system, not what they tell you.

Does that bother you?

colin says:

11:53am | 21/09/09

Lachlan,

There is a “permanently delete” as per the screenshot, but it keeps your account active for two weeks before it really deletes it.  I deleted mine, and it is definitely gone.

Jimbo Jones says:

12:06pm | 21/09/09

@Lachlan

No, I’m not fussed by targeted advertising or necessarily the systems used to create it.  iTunes does this (it is switch-off’able - haven’t used it in yonks, I just buy CD’s from amazon or cheapies at JB) as does Amazon (which, from time to time can be quite interesting).  I’ve never found facebook advertising to be as pervasive as even the Amazon example (though it’s pretty sad stuff by comparison).  I’m aware that they’re tracking behaviour (what I do, who I interact with etc) but realistically, if they weren’t doing something that enables them to make a buck then the site wouldn’t exist at all.  I know FB is free but then again, it aint.  They’re providing a fairly expansive networking service that costs server money, developer money etc etc.  FB has to pay for it somehow, tracking me behind the scenes is part of how they do it (remember the google mail controversy, they revealed they were searching for keywords in user emails presumably to assist to build advertising profiles).  It’s not very kosher to say, ‘they all do it so just stop worrying’ (and I appreciate the Orwellian concerns) but until something better rears its head (that is as equally as useful) you have one of two choices, you can either log on or log off.  I’m still on but I’m not uploading personal details and I’m happy to suffer the behind the scenes tracking that FB does to create the advertising that pays its bills.  (throws hands up in air) I dunno, like gamblers say, ‘only gamble with what you’re willing to loose’ - in that sense, I’m willing to loose that level of information I’m willing to provide to FB (behaviourally or otherwise) and no more…

Yuval says:

12:11pm | 21/09/09

Yeah, especially their ability to tell my age without me specifying the right one.
“that doesn’t mean that information should be surfaced in the user interface. “
There are a few cases i think this will be actually beneficial. what happened if someone was faking you on facebook? how will you know?

Scott G says:

12:37pm | 21/09/09

Interesting article. I am glad it didn’t go down the Twitter vs Facebook route we are seeing too often (yawn) but raises some interesting questions on privacy, more importantly on the lack of education mainstream users have when engaging with such services as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc…

I find Facebook fulfilling (although not a fan of Kanye) for some of my online needs and signed up for the service knowing more than most about how they use my data. I am not a fan of some of their policies, not a fan of the endless application requests and never actually install anything that wants my username and password for other websites.

But I still use it. They offer a service and I choose to use it regardless of it’s shortcomings and this is something people have to start thinking about on the web as it goes more mainstream and exponentially more social.

If you sign a physical contract with a pen yet don’t read the fine print and get stung in the end, then you might be regarded as a bit of an idiot for not reading that contract.

If you sign up for a Facebook account and get stung by something that is probably in their Privacy Policy already, it seems a bit more acceptable online to lay blame on the website rather than the user.

Is Facebook wrong? They could be to some extent (I haven’t gone through their policies), but I also think there is another issue here of naivety and a need to educate the new, mainstream internet users which Facebook specifically targets.

Not every business is interested in the greater good of the web, which I hate to see as a web professional but it’s just the way it is.

Cheryl says:

12:48pm | 21/09/09

I love it when advertisers can target me based on my preferences, I wish they’d do more of it.

I don’t see the problem with them observing my behaviour and then serving me ads they think will appeal to me. I’d much rather them do that then serve me those horrible belly fat ads, or Evony ads with the big-breasted women, or the “single girls looking to chat” ads when I’m very obviously the wrong demographic.

The grocery chain I used in the UK used to log everything I bought on my supermarket card and then would target offers based on what I bought - I loved it, it meant I got offers for organic food, vegetables, etc instead of junk food. I really don’t see the problem in collecting customer demographics and then targeting advertisements to them. I wish the grocery stores here would do it.

Would you rather be hit with blanket ads of no relevance?

Zeta says:

02:05pm | 21/09/09

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMWz3G_gPhU

This never gets old. My favourite part is when Facebook used venture capital from the CIA to get started.

Stevo says:

03:17pm | 21/09/09

My facebook account has my name so people can find me, and 1 photo (which can only be seen by people on my friends list).

It’s a convenient method for getting invites to things but that’s as far as I take it.

Peter Renshaw says:

03:27pm | 21/09/09

“... I have a totally fictitious facebook account, my ‘real’ ‘friends’ are attached.  I’ve had it since facebook had under 10000 users ...”

@JimboJones
Then you’d probably realise that “you” can be identified by your associated friends. The real problem is not so much how much overt information you display, but the amount of information (right or wrong) that can be extracted covertly [0] or by association. [1] 

Reference
[0] Boston Globe, Carolyn Y. Johnson, “Project ‘Gaydar’: ‘Even if you don’t affirmatively post revealing information, simply publishing your friends’ list may reveal sensitive information about you, or it may lead people to make assumptions about you that are incorrect’”
[Accessed Monday, 21st September, 2009]
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/09/20/project_gaydar_an_mit_experiment_raises_new_questions_about_online_privacy/?page=full

[1] Paul Fenwick, “Dark Stalking on Facebook (Facebook Privacy talk at BarCampMelbourne)”,
[Accessed Monday, 21st September, 2009]
http://pjf.id.au/blog/?position=591

Lilly O'Gorman says:

02:39pm | 22/09/09

I had no idea that there was no option to delete my facebook, which is a bit of a worry seeing as I had always intended to after finishing uni and entering the workforce….all of those uni parties…eek! It seems facebook has become the new rapsheet; a form of identification that everyone is only too willing to trust…

Jason says:

08:22pm | 22/09/09

So let me see - you have clearly never deleted cookies or private data from your (probably out of date) browser and yet you write a blog about problems deleting personal data ONLINE?  You can’t even manage your local personal data.  On your own computer!  As a technical specialist of around 18 years, the best advice I can offer is to put your computer back in the box and send it back to the manufacturer…

Chris Cox says:

10:55am | 22/12/09

You missed the most important part of your article—please add an update giving the path line to where Fbook Beacon is stored on the user’s computer.  TIA.

ManningMona35 says:

09:18am | 14/10/11

I guess that to receive the mortgage loans from creditors you ought to present a great motivation. However, one time I have received a term loan, because I wanted to buy a car.

Kenny Jones says:

09:37am | 04/01/12

This post has me thinking about this a little deeper than I might reverse cell phone lookup have because of what I have just gathered from digesting the meaning contained within the words of this post.  And this can’t be anything but a good thing, in my view.  Thoughtful views, such as what are expressed on cell phone white pages  this site, helps other people to grow beyond what they could all by themselves.

Suban says:

03:01pm | 07/02/12

Hi,I am Barry Cheung at pm sochol 6C. Any chance that I can see the picture of my classmate?ThanksBarry (name given by a foreign teacher when I was at P.3)

Raluca says:

02:12pm | 10/02/12

few days ago, Kelly McGauley wrote a post in the USA Today College Blog about the “Facebook detox” that a nemubr of friends of mine have

HelioXXx says:

06:05pm | 29/03/12

I had no idea that there was no option to delete my facebook, which is a bit of a worry seeing as I had always intended to after finishing uni and entering the workforce….all of those forfait mobile - forfait sans engagement uni parties…eek! It seems facebook has become the new rapsheet; a form of identification that everyone is only too willing to trust…

Divya says:

07:31am | 18/10/12

You are an excellent wtreir even if I have thought your writing seems sad sometimes!  I am so glad you are honest!  The truth will set you free,  is true!  I love you and I am so blessed to be your Mom!