Backing Out … “Gracefully”
It’s beginning to look as if there’s not a single honest social networking system on the internet … and I’m sad to have to acknowledge that Facebook has joined the ranks of all of the other losers who decide that what’s yours, is theirs.
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.”
– John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, first Baron of Acton (1834–1902)
We’ve had some recent experiences with some of these “great men” … whom I won’t name, because we all know who they are. They weren’t the first; years ago, there were other “pioneers” who allowed a bit of success to go their heads … and at that time, I figured out a few ways to get on top of the problem, and keep my intellectual property out of the greedy hands of those who would take advantage of me. It takes a bit of work, but if done properly, will allow you to disentangle yourself from a thief while leaving very little of your information and intellectual property behind.
First of all, you need to not only delete your information, you need to change …. and save it … not once, but at least twice. Hold off on changing your name and login for last, so that you can continue to log in until the job is done. It’s tedious, and may take a while.
Birthdays, and all other personal information can be overwritten with random bits of trivia, all unrelated to reality. Fill it all out again with bogus information, and save it … make another small change to anything there, then save it again. Doing it this way, the second save should not only overwrite the current information, but should also cause the backed up information to be overwritten by the bogus info you provided on the first save.
Regarding photographs, you can upload anything you want under the name of the photograph you want to replace. For example, rename a blank graphic, or any other graphic you’d like to use (I’ve made some that intend to use 1 – and you’re welcome to copy and use them too) and rename it to the same name as the photo you’d like to replace.
That will overwrite the photo that was already there. It’s tedious, renaming a graphic over and over, and uploading it to replace what was already there, but it’s the only way that I believe you can actually “take back” your photographs and graphics.
Remember to delete your RSS links to Facebook from your blogs. Also, replace any written text with a nonsense line of text, and be certain to save it at least twice, using a tiny change in the sentence to ensure that it actually does get overwritten on the second save.
Don’t leave anything of yours behind for them to use. If you get stuck with something that you can’t seem to delete, post it in the comments, and we’ll try to figure it out together.
Let’s send out a message to all of the greedy social networking big shots who think they can get away with this stuff … let’s let them know: We won’t let them!
More info:
How to Find Your Facebook Status RSS Feed
Facebook CEO to Scared Users: Trust Us
People Against the new Terms of Service (TOS)
1) Replacement banners:
Thanks to Deneen Ballard for initially calling the information to my attention.
February 17th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
Moof, This all makes me glad I never really got into facebook. I never even filled out my profile there. I am to distrustful, and this is one time I am now glad that I am.
February 19th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
No way. Facebook provides me way too much value to back out. They can do what they want with my information. Google already has it indexed anyway. I can’t believe you’d go to all this effort when even all of what you listed above isn’t enough to remove it all. Considering the way the internet cache’s things, your data is still around. I suggest we all embrace it and enjoy the cool benefits of using a site like Facebook.
February 19th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
Mr. Lynn, you’re welcome to have your own opinion, however I respectfully disagree with you. I believe that our intellectual property, and our privacy, is something worth fighting for.
Playing with SuperPoke Pets and taking quizzes is not worth seeing my personal photos or blog posts used in a FaceBook advertisement.
Furthermore, it makes no sense to have a social networking site that allows you the choice of keeping your information private, sharing it with contacts, or sharing it with specific groups … if they’re going to just take it from you and share it with the entire world, with no means of opting out, or of any for of remuneration.
We have to get the message out that this sort of thing will not be tolerated, and we have to be untiring against the flood of greed. Definitely worth it.
February 19th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
It’s always more fun as long as we can respectfully disagree.
I think you may be missing the point of facebook. If facebook is just about playing with superpoke pets and taking quizzes, then you should stop using it. To me, it’s not about those things at all. It’s about connecting and staying connected with my friends from the past which are located all over the world. This reconnection is invaluable and fantastic.
I appreciate your concern of putting all your photos, blog posts etc on there. If you feel that way, then don’t post them up there. That’s fine. I unconsciously did the same by just never uploading anything to facebook and pointing people to my personal blog as needed, desired and requested.
However, I’m not going to throw out the baby with the nasty bath water. I’ll keep enjoying the good and continue to be cautious with how I use it knowing full well that it’s possible that something I post on facebook might get out.
Luckily I have passionate people like you that are fighting for my privacy.
March 2nd, 2009 at 2:21 pm
Mr. Lynn, I’ve been thinking about your reply for quite a while, and I’ve decided to rein in most of my comments … however there is one point that I would like to make:
It worries me that someone with a web site called “ERM and HIPAA” would be so nonchalant about privacy …
If Facebook, or anyone else, infringes on my privacy, I’m done with them, because if I really believe in what I’m saying – I won’t aid and abet those who want to be greedy at the expense of my work, or of my private life.
‘Nuf said.