After all of the recent privacy debacles, a growing band of Facebook users have had enough and are banding together to say goodbye to the social networking behemoth once and for all; here are the details …
Leave Facebook Day
I’ve had it up to here with Facebook, and their constant distancing from issues of privacy and the concerns of their users. The benefits of being able to connect and get information about my social network no longer outweigh the costs of FB using and abusing my social graph.
So I’ve decided to leave Facebook. It’s not going to be easy. Facebook make sure that deleting your account is somewhat akin to leaving a cult with lots of ‘but we’ll miss you and we love you and come back to us’ style of wailing and gnashing of teeth.
But I’m committed. I’m climbing the wall around the Facebook compound and making a break for freedom. Start humming “The Great Escape” theme, guys, because I want you to come with me
I want to declare May 21st Leave Facebook Day. On that day, let’s all leave Facebook. Let’s hit that radio button that says “I’m leaving because of privacy issues” and let Facebook know that we won’t be folded, spindled or mutilated, that we are human beings, not social data to be sold. Let’s all climb the wall together.
Tell your friends. Use the #LeaveFBday hash tag on twitter. Blog about it. Heck, update your Facebook status.
Let’s just get out while we still can.
UPDATE #1: twitter user @thesixthbaron notes that, even after requesting a complete account deletion, Facebook still holds your data ‘in case of reactivation.’
How scary that they feel the need to hold on to information “just in case”. I found this section of the link to be the most offensive “Many users deactivate their accounts for temporary reasons and expect their information to be there when they return to the service.”
Actually many users delete their accounts assuming that all information previously uploaded and logged is deleted when their account is deleted.
I am with you on this one Tama. On May 21st I will be deleting my account.