My recent column on the Facebook privacy dust-up had to be cut short a little bit because of space constraints. Here are a few points that got the axe:
- A blogger at Gizmodo has compiled a list of 10 Reason to Quit Facebook.
- Facebook lets you deactivate your account, which is not the same as deleting it. Deleting it is permanent (at least, after a 14-day waiting period). Deactivating it allows you to re-enable the account again later. They continue to share some information about you when the account is deactivated, but claim to permanently delete the information is you delete the account. For obvious reasons, they make it fairly easy to deactivate your account, but much more difficult to find the link for deleting your account. The easiest way is to visit deletefacebook.com, which is not affiliated with Facebook but will point you directly to their “delete” page (which has a much longer and harder-to-remember URL). This site will probably stay updated in case Facebook changes the link in the future. See this ReadWriteWeb article for a screenshot of the kind of guilt-trip you can expect if you decide to delete your account.
- The original full text of how Facebook VP of Communications Elliot Schrage condescends to readers in his New York Times interview: He blames the problem in part on confused users, and argues disingenuously that Facebook settings are opt-in because no one forces you to use the site. Nice try, comrade, but there’s a difference between the Facebook site and individual settings within that site.
Pretty much everything else made it in, so be sure to check out the article for more!