Privacy Concerns Cause A lot more Users To Delete Facebook Accounts

You are able to go ahead and join the crowd if you are considering deleting your Facebook account. Facebook started a new feature that gave personal details to not only just friends, but the whole internet in April. Concerns are growing about Facebook privacy issues and what Facebook is doing with personal information. Politicians, web superstars, and privacy advocates have announced that they're deleting their Facebook accounts.

Deleting Facebook accounts for privacy's sake

Unless they block it manually, personal information is now fair game, so people are deleting their Facebook accounts. Blogger Mat McKeon reports that when Facebook was founded, way back in 2005, it restricted a user's personal info to just friends and their network. These last few years, Facebook default privacy settings for every person’s personal data is now as permissive as exact same day payday loans. Now every little thing but your contact information and birthday can be accessed by any person. Users think it is confusing how Facebook also keeps changing what is classified as personal information.

Make sure to update your Facebook privacy settings

McKeon isn’t suggesting individuals delete their accounts and he isn’t either. He gets it that Facebook is trying to make money off of the details they get with their free service. But he does strongly advocates double and triple checking your privacy settings for a personal profile that could possibly be giving out details from where you live to the movies you like and the individuals you trust. The Wall Street Journal reports that some members of the tech community, such as Google search-engine guru Matt Cutts and Engadget co-founder Peter Rojas, have announced that they were deactivating their Facebook accounts, a step that shuts down but doesn’t delete the Facebook account totally.

How do I delete my Facebook account forever?

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 data temporarily. As outlined by wikiHow, it is much more difficult to find the “permanent delete” option. This wikiHow article certainly answers the question: How do I delete my Facebook account forever?

Facebook privacy issues

"Delete Facebook account" has been a top search term on Google recently. ABC News reports that the latest backlash began brewing after Facebook's developer conference a few weeks ago. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled several different changes he said would make the Web more social and personalized by expanding Facebook's presence to many other sites. On thousands of sites a "social plug-in" will now let users "like" content and see what their Facebook friends have liked, directly from those sites.

Facebook and privacy violations

Facebook now by default gives 3rd party companies access to members’ names, hobbies, and friends lists. When a Facebook user logs onto a site with the Facebook social plug-in, the content displayed is shaped by the personal details in their Facebook account, as well as the personal details of their friends. You must manually disable this feature if you need it to go away.

Facebook privacy advocates

Individuals 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 that Facebook and other social networks are required to follow.

Numerous plan to delete Facebook account forever

Facebook hasn’t done anything to help its Facebook privacy problem. In a Q and A session with readers of the New York Times, Elliot Schrage, Facebook’s vice president for public policy, responded to privacy concerns by saying that participating in Facebook is “a choice.” He said “Please don’t share if you’re not comfortable.”. A lot of people are taking his advice.

Resources

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-a...