Live data from Hacker News

Extra Technical Obstacles for Facebook Quitters

wsj.com

71–80 of 109 posts

Re: Extra Technical Obstacles for Facebook Quitters

#72
post #60

If you want to avoid logging in accidentally, you can just make a garbage (that is, no-garbage?) account that you use only for family or something and then log into that instead. Rename your old account to John Smith or something, change the password to sign everything out, delete it and then only re-sign into your new account (which you intend to barely/not use). Nowadays I only use Facebook to reach family that don…

Don't worry, Facebook keeps track of devices, so they'll still know it's really you.

Yes, they ask you to re-add all your old friends but I’m assuming that will disappear eventually when my other account goes poof [1].

1: in reality, it probably doesn’t ever go poof.

Re: Extra Technical Obstacles for Facebook Quitters

#73

"I feel deeply personally responsible, because a lot of mistakes were made ," Sandberg said in an interview with Bloomberg. [ Dont feel bad. You are doing a fantastic job! ] "What we didn't do until recently and what we are doing now is just take a broader view looking to be more restrictive in ways data could be misused. We also didn't build our operations fast enough -- and that's on me," she added. ... Sandberg ad…

It looks like you've been posting dozens of these. Would you please stop? HN threads are for conversation, not copy-pasting.

Re: Extra Technical Obstacles for Facebook Quitters

#74
post #50
post #10

If you're in Europe and want to delete your fb account, wouldn't it be better to wait until GDPR activates, so your data actually gets erased instead of hidden? I'm going to erase quite a few accounts I'm no longer using on various services, I really hope they won't cheat.

Legal question: what situations will guarantee that Facebook erases info under GDPR? Do I have to issue the request from an IP-address believed to be under GDPR? Be a resident or citizen of an EU member state?

Get a Euro zone VPN and try, maybe change your location to match?

Re: Extra Technical Obstacles for Facebook Quitters

#75

Cox, a major cable operator, allows you to sign up and add any services you want online. However, partially removing or cancelling services online is expressly forbidden. For example, if you wish to keep Internet service but cancel cable TV, a call is required. I know it’s a different process, but wanted to reilluminate the some of the measures taken against disconnecting a service in general. Once you do call, which…

Fortunately the bank allows me to block transactions online. What's the appropriate due diligence to ensure the don't try to continue charging you? Would an email requesting disconnection suffice in front of a judge?

Re: Extra Technical Obstacles for Facebook Quitters

#76
post #60

If you want to avoid logging in accidentally, you can just make a garbage (that is, no-garbage?) account that you use only for family or something and then log into that instead. Rename your old account to John Smith or something, change the password to sign everything out, delete it and then only re-sign into your new account (which you intend to barely/not use). Nowadays I only use Facebook to reach family that don…

Don't worry, Facebook keeps track of devices, so they'll still know it's really you.

I don't use Facebook much however there were some private support groups on there related to my health issues. However many of my friends and family don't know about my health issues so I wanted to create a separate account to view those groups. In order that Facebook doesn't link to my older account, I created a new account on my laptop, created a new gmail account, then created a new Facebook account with fake information. Even then Facebook managed to link me to the friends and family with my original account.

Re: Extra Technical Obstacles for Facebook Quitters

#77
post #16

Obligatory non-Paywall link http://archive.is/FVdrM

I guess fullwsj.com got shutdown because of recent facebook limitations. Does the twitter referrer still work for wsj.com?

Domain expired. Probably the owner felt it wasn't worth the annual registration fee to continue maintaining the service?

Re: Extra Technical Obstacles for Facebook Quitters

#78

Cox, a major cable operator, allows you to sign up and add any services you want online. However, partially removing or cancelling services online is expressly forbidden. For example, if you wish to keep Internet service but cancel cable TV, a call is required. I know it’s a different process, but wanted to reilluminate the some of the measures taken against disconnecting a service in general. Once you do call, which…

Same with Simplisafe. You can activate online, but need to call the cancel. This is for "security"...which is bull crap because if you have access to the online account, you have access to the "safe word" that supposedly protects your account.

I called a few times to cancel, each time I hung up after 10 minutes. Finally I opted to leave a voicemail to get a call back. After a few days I finally got a call back and cancelled.

Service was terminated immediately. If they really wanted to protect you, you would give you a few more days for free and also confirm that you is 2FA so a burglar doesn't cancel your system without you knowing and then robbing you.

Re: Extra Technical Obstacles for Facebook Quitters

#79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Time Warner didn't respect the choice to not disclose a reason. They went in circles a few times, instead of dropping the question and advancing the script.

Facinsating, although I empathize. I assume peaceful resistance of politely reiterating the reason is private would require them to yield eventually? If not, seems like it’d make for a great audio clip for some morning news show.

You can listen to a classic example of this behavior from Comcast here:

https://soundcloud.com/ryan-block-10/comcastic-service

Re: Extra Technical Obstacles for Facebook Quitters

#80

Cox, a major cable operator, allows you to sign up and add any services you want online. However, partially removing or cancelling services online is expressly forbidden. For example, if you wish to keep Internet service but cancel cable TV, a call is required. I know it’s a different process, but wanted to reilluminate the some of the measures taken against disconnecting a service in general. Once you do call, which…

My tactic is always to pretend to be an assistant doing it for my boss so I have no authority to do anything but cancel/downgrade etc.
Post reply on HN