daniel belasco rogers

Why I left Facebook...
...but took a long time about it

(cut to the chase)

(how it was...)

(newsflash)

It's hard to leave Facebook. And I'm not just talking about the technical difficulties and the sneaking suspicion that they keep your material
(see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Facebook#.22Terms_of_Use.22_controversy),
it's hard to leave because it feels like you're snubbing your friends.

Of course that is so far from my intention that I have taken ages to try and work out how I leave without alienating or loosing touch with the people I care about, so I have made this page so that I can explain why I no longer want anything to do with Facebook but everything to do with my friends.

You can find out the details below, but to cut to the chase, here is what I have decided about Facebook. You decide whether I am right or wrong but I have decided to opt out of it because there is too much on the unknown and outright unethical side for me to feel comfortable about continuing:

Facebook is essentially a massive database being filled with useful information by a huge, voluntary and unpaid workforce. I am no longer willing to be a part of that workforce.

I'm a very reluctant spoil-sport and I realise that people are having a lot of fun contacting each other on Facebook and in the future I hope that there will be a safe, open and honest way of social networking. I just don't think Facebook is a safe place to play.

I also hate the thought of those people I don't have email addresses for being lost to me, so I beg you all to send me an email if you don't think I have your details and I'll make sure to keep in touch this way. If you are an organisation, please put me on your normal emailing list, I'm happy to get emails from you.

There is the very good wikipedia article here
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Facebook)
about the problems with facebook, some of which have been addressed by the company. Facebook has been forced (partly) to play fair due to public pressure (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Facebook#Inability_to_voluntarily_terminate_accounts) but you have to ask yourself whether a company that operates in this way in the first place is a trustworthy place to start putting intimate information about you and your friends.

I think that we are in a very vulnerable position as users of the Internet which itself is only in its teens. We have not yet developed the instincts for danger that we have in the 'real' world, instincts that take a long time to hone. We are increasingly encouraged to contact each other through a third party.

This is what Facebook partly is: a centralised communication portal rather than a direct way of contacting each other, and it would be even be just about ok if it stopped there. However, Facebook is ultimately a commercial enterprise collecting clients (you) and client information (what you put on Facebook and how you interact with each other).

This information is valuable to the company and as the new internet age of social networking develops, these companies are working hard on models for making this pay. Facebook's terms and conditions which I'm sure none of us read, ensure that they are legally ready to profit from this information when the time comes.

Once again, please keep in touch, just not through Facebook.

Dan Belasco Rogers Berlin July 2009

How it went - a report from 21 July 2009

I found it a very interesting process to try and leave facebook so I thought I'd briefly say what went on.

When you click 'disable my account' you are routed to a page showing recent pictures of you that friends have tagged. At the top of this page are their names plugged into the sentence:

"[this friend - insert friends name] will miss you"

These people really know what they're doing and how to make it hard to leave!

Getting through this obstacle, you are warned of this:

"Note: Even after you deactivate, your friends can still invite you to events, tag you in photos or ask you to join groups. If you opt out, you will NOT receive these email invitations and notifications from your friends."

Not exactly reassuring, eh?

I followed the directions on this site to leave facebook, basically deleting all the material, photos, friends, messages, wall posts etc and then applying to facebook to permanently delete my account which they say they'll get round to in 14 days - pretty long for an automated process I thought: It'll take them a very short time to scrape the data from my now empty account.

I'm now left with the feeling that I have no idea whether I have actually done what I set out to do until I check again in 15 days. It's an unpleasant, unresolved feeling and I'm sure it's calculated. Is this the kind of treatment we expect from leaving a reputable company who has done nothing but profit from information you have been generous enough to share?

However, this is all I can do at the moment and I feel better that I've begun to do the only thing you can to protest against mispractice by a commercial enterprise, i.e. to opt out. I'll let you know if it worked.

Newsflash:

Canada has ruled Facebook to be in contravention of four of Canada's privacy laws.

Hooray for Canada!

more here: http://www.thestar.com/article/667700