Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Privacy Concerns Cause More Users To Delete Facebook Accounts

More Users Delete Facebook Accounts Over Privacy Concerns

If you’re thinking about deleting your Facebook account forever, join the crowd. Facebook began a new feature that gave personal details to not only just friends, but the whole internet in April. Facebook privacy issues and what Facebook is doing with personal data concerns appear to be growing. Politicians, web superstars, and privacy advocates have announced that they’re deleting their Facebook accounts.

For privacy's sake, deleting Facebook accounts

More individuals 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, way back in 2005, it restricted all of the user’s personal info to just their friends and network. These last few years, Facebook default privacy settings for every person's personal info is now as permissive as no fax payday loans no credit check. Now, anybody who wants to can see anything but your birthday and contact information. Facebook also changes how personal details is classified which users think is confusing.

Make certain to update your Facebook privacy settings

McKeon doesn't plan on deleting his Facebook account and doesn't suggest others do either. He understood Facebook trying to making money off the info that it gets when providing a free service. But he does strongly advocates double and triple checking your privacy settings for a personal profile that could be giving out data 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, such as Google search-engine guru Matt Cutts and Engadget co-founder Peter Rojas, have announced in recent weeks that they were deactivating their Facebook accounts, a step that shuts down but doesn't delete the Facebook account totally.

How to permanently delete my Facebook account?

It isn't as simple as a point and click to delete your Facebook account forever. It is easy to deactivate your account which will only hide your information temporarily. But according to wikiHow, if you would like to permanently remove your info, the “permanent delete" option is much harder to discover. This wikiHow article answers the question: How do I delete my Facebook account forever?

Privacy difficulties with Facebook

Recently, "delete Facebook account" has been a huge Google search term. ABC News reports the latest backlash began brewing after Facebook’s developer conference a few weeks ago. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled various changes he said would make the Web more social and personalized by expanding Facebook’s presence to other sites. On numerous 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 data in their Facebook account, also as the personal details of their friends. You need to manually disable this feature if you need it to go away.

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 guidelines for Facebook and other social networks to follow.

People delete Facebook account forever

Facebook hasn't done much to help its recent problem relating to privacy. 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.". That advice is being taken by many.

Sources for the article

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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