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I’m out of Facebook

  • Published October 25th, 2007 in Personal

I ought to start reading the Terms of Service and Privacy Agreement of each website I register myself on.

Anyway, I’m out of Facebook. These are the reasons.


Thanks to those pointing this out, namely Marcos Marado and Armando Alves.


11 Responses to “I’m out of Facebook”

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  1. David Rodrigues
    Published at October 25th, 2007 at 9:11 pm

    I’m out too…

    But they don’t let you delete your account. Just “deactivate” it…

  2. HugoNS
    Published at October 26th, 2007 at 11:52 am

    I’ve just deactivate my account too…

  3. André Luís
    Published at October 26th, 2007 at 1:30 pm

    I don’t know about you, but LinkedIn knows a lot more sensitive information about me than Facebook.

    So what, they (fb) know what music I like to hear (so does last.fm and everyone who subscribes my lifestream), they know what movies I like watch… and?

    That works in my advantage. If I don’t get advertisements about stuff I don’t like, I’m fine with them using that. Just like I don’t mind receiving emails from Amazon with suggestions that suit my tastes.

    The scary part is not that they have the data.. is what people are putting in there. If you’re documenting your entire life, home addresses, phone numbers, etc., then the problem is YOU not them.

    Those words on the terms of service? You would get scared if you read the terms of all services. That’s lawyers talk, to prevent legal action.

    Please, if you’re leaving facebook, be coherent and leave ALL social networks: hi5, linkedin, myspace, last.fm, etc. They all have “sensitive” information on their db’s.

    (comment crossposted along some blogs)

  4. mlopes
    Published at October 26th, 2007 at 2:15 pm

    André,

    First off, Facebook is the only social network I’m registered in, along with Last.Fm. As for Last.FM, there’s no connection between my username and myself, so they only track the songs that a random user plays. Great, they know I like electronic music…

    The problem with Facebook is the connection with the Government agencies and the kind of information one might put there. They already know my name, where I used to live and my friends, along with for whom I worked for. I don’t mind that they have that information but I can’t tolerate that they might sell that information or give it to Government agencies.

    And I’m coherent. If I register myself on a website that has such Terms of Service I’d immediately cancel my registration.

  5. vs
    Published at October 26th, 2007 at 2:48 pm

    André is right, nothing you do online is safe. Your informations are being leaked left and right if you continue to use the internet.

    It really doesn’t matter. FB is a website, you sign up to get in touch with your friends, family, and so on.

    mlopes, do you really think you’re safe by saying that Last.FM only knows you as some random user that like electronic music? How gullible…

  6. Levi Figueira
    Published at October 30th, 2007 at 5:15 am

    Nevermind that you all still have your profile in there… and is searchable… :rolleyes:

  7. mlopes
    Published at October 30th, 2007 at 11:04 am

    Well, there’s not actual difference between deactivating the account or stopping using it. Eitherways, they’ll track your information. So I’ll just keep it and stop feeding it. No more information to Facebook and I won’t use it anymore. That’s it.

  8. André Luís
    Published at October 30th, 2007 at 11:19 am

    Mário,

    Yes, I agree that the video scares you a bit with those connections to government agencies… but to me it sounds more like inciting doubt (FUD, anyone?) on the users. No, I’m not saying I believe 100% the info is hermetically shut on facebook. But I’m not 100% confident my data will leak into gov computers.

    Just like I’m not 100% confident the guys who host a new web2.0 services won’t use the password I give them to try to log into my email or sell my information to third parties.

    You have to be extra careful these days. I only share the information I’m willing to post to the public. I very seldom input my real postal address on the web. My phone, likewise, although I’m less strict about that.

    For instance, some members of Prt.sc even share their home address on GMaps… that, to me, is far more intrusive than whatever info you might have on facebook.

    (oh, just as a disclaimer, I’m no fan of facebook. I have an account, but don’t go there more than once a month)

  9. mlopes
    Published at October 30th, 2007 at 11:22 am

    André,

    I’ve learned that anything is possible to happen in the US, and being tracked by the Government is more plausible than being not.

  10. André Luís
    Published at October 30th, 2007 at 11:52 am

    I agree. In and outside of facebook. :) hehe

    I, for one, am a far bigger user of Google. So I am probably in there already. No worries. haha :P

  11. mlopes
    Published at October 30th, 2007 at 1:09 pm

    For some reason and for the time being, I do trust Google. They might deceive me in the future, but right now I hold my breath on them.