An article in The New York Times today revealed that it is virtually impossible (no pun intended...well, maybe a little) to completely remove your information from Facebook.
I found this interesting as one of our classmates expressed her concern that "your information just floats out there in space forever...". Well, according to this article, and apparently many other disgruntled members, one can delete their account but Facebook will continue to hold your information on file...just in case. According to one of the social network's spokespersons, this is supposed to be a convenience; making it a breeze to reactivate your account if you change your mind. But in one case reported by the New York Times, even after repeated requests, certain information was still retained.
But how convenient is it when you're still getting e-mails from individuals who accessed your old, supposedly terminated e-mail information through your "deactivated" account (as one reporter was able to do)? Isn't it even a little creepy that they keep it anyway?
Why would anyone want to deactivate their Facebook account? It's so wonderful! I know this is what's going through your Facebook-obsessed heads. Consider the executive who discovers that his junior associates and interns are looking at his pics from a crazy night out last weekend? Maybe you don't want your student workers knowing all of your personal business and who your friends are? Or perhaps you just got incredibly fed up with all of the applications!
Who knows why people would want out. But don't you think they should be able to do so without worrying if their information is still "out there"?
No comments:
Post a Comment