I've had enough, folks. Facebook makes money by selling access to your public and private information to third parties. You and I are not Facebook's clients... we're the goods. While Facebook gives you a plethora of options to restrict what other Facebook users can see, you cannot restrict your personal information from a Facebook or external application once you've given it permission to see your Facebook account. Unless you know what exactly what you're doing and set a bunch of your privacy settings correctly --which seem to be changing (for the worse) every couple of months now-- all of the Facebook and external applications that all your Facebook friends have approved (even though you have not) will also have access to your personal information... even if your Facebook friends cannot see your private info, those applications can see it, take it, and use it! This is not the same thing as your local grocery store tracking your grocery shopping habits through your VIP shopper card on your key-ring -- not even close.
On the face of it (pardon the pun), Facebook touts 'privacy this' and 'privacy that' to you. But, they disguise their true motives by counting on you being A) ignorant, then B) careless, and if that doesn't work, then C) they'll attempt to confound and confuse you by burying important privacy settings; frequently changing privacy polices; and now, they're just taking certain privacy controls away from you... not once, but twice already... all in the name of "forging the 'social' web, uh, to the next level." What? Come on, now. Really? You mean it's not about the money? How noble.
They stuck it to users a couple of months ago by forcing certain items that you used to be able to make private, no longer settable. And now, they're doing another end-run around users by sharing info with "trusted" partners. Partners? They're not partners... they're customers! Paying customers. And what are these customers paying (through the nose) for? You... You, you, you... and "your little dog, too!" (Think, "Toto"... You know, Dorothy Gale?)
I fully understand that, with the advent of technology, "social" technology in particular, some personal liberties are simply not going to be personal anymore -- I can deal with that... if, and only if, I'm the one in control of my information. Facebook has gone way, way over the line. Facebook is no longer our friend.
Don't just take my word for it... if you have a Facebook account, do yourself a favor and read (at least) some of these links:
- http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/04/facebook-further-reduces-control-over-personal-information
- http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/26/facebook-foreshadows-new-features-with-new-privacy-policies/
- http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/26/facebooks-plan-to-automatically-share-your-data-with-sites-you-never-signed-up-for/
- http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/27/facebook-privacy-connect/
- http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/12/facebooks-new-privacy-changes-good-bad-and-ugly
Why is all this happening? Well, a college kid started this thing up some years back (you can look all that up yourself on Wikipedia). Back in the day, he was right(eous) about user privacy. But, those days are gone. Today, Facebook's estimated worth is about $1-1.5 Billion. But, he thinks it's should be more like $5 Billion. And, IMHO, the only way he can get there is by SELLING YOU OUT. The more of you Facebook can sell, the more valuable the company appears.
You can easily de-activate your Facebook account by going to your account settings. But, they own your data, personal and private; and they will keep it and they will keep selling it.
You can now DELETE (but, only because several major governments brow-beat them to comply) your Facebook account by going here:
I just deleted mine... they say it'll take up to two weeks. I wonder though, why should it take two weeks? I mean, it's just some ones and zeros.
