Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How to permanently delete your Facebook account

facebook.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

221–230 of 289 posts

Re: How to permanently delete your Facebook account

#221

Post by flipbrad »

dahart wrote: post #179
flipbrad wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't need to live in the EU/EEA to invoke GDPR rights. Case in point: the UK authority upheld a US resident's GDPR claim against Cambridge Analytica (and yes, Facebook was involved). https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/news-and-events/news-and-bl...

What do you mean “upheld”? The story in your link describes the company refusing to comply and then ends. It’s true that you don’t have to be currently living in the EU to invoke your GDPR rights if you’re an EU citizen traveling abroad, or if you’re a foreign citizen traveling or residing in the EU. GDPR applies to companies that market to people in the EU or do business in the EU. BUT - GDPR is an EU law, it does n…

You're quite wrong. GDPR can apply to citizens in the US, and the link I posted shows the ICO enforcing it in their favour. SCL Elections Ltd was taken to court and then fined £15,000 for not complying with that US resident's request.https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/news-and-events/news-and-bl... I expect that US resident could also have brought a civil lawsuit, at least in UK courts, for damages.

The EU and UK GDPRs can also apply to companies in the US, or elsewhere. That's because location of the business (including subsidiaries) OR location of the individuals, are hooks under the GDPR's territoriality tests in Article 3. You usually need one or the other though; the way GDPR Article 3 works, it's pretty hard to imagine it applying to a US-only business in respect of US resident-individuals.

Re: How to permanently delete your Facebook account

#222

Post by e12e »

swamp-agr wrote: post #47

The situation is quite interesting here. - Imagine, you're living outside of USA/UK/Europe. - Formally, it's possible to proceed with "Permanently delete my account". - You will even receive email assuring you that two weeks later profile would be completely deleted. - Then, couple years later you'll occasionally seen email from facebook that someone tried to log in into your ("permanently deleted") account. - You'll…

> Imagine, you're living outside of USA/UK/Europe.

Technically, with GDPR you only need to visit the EU to delete your account... So I suppose one might a vacation out of deleting Facebook, LinkedIn etc accounts?

Re: How to permanently delete your Facebook account

#223

Post by mrits »

maxehmookau wrote: post #11
bserge wrote: post #6

Their definition of taking a break is strange. Just don't visit Facebook lol Also, are they still doing the shadow profiles thing where they create "accounts" for your name in order to entice other people to join Facebook? And if you join, people you might know are conveniently already waiting for you. That always seemed shady as hell.

It's the same language used by gambling companies. "Take a break" rather than "Break your cycle of addiction by leaving us for good". Not entirely surprising.

You don't defeat alcoholism by giving up a type of liquor. You can't quit Vodka and switch to Tequila and expect to have a different experience. Quitting Facebook/Instagram hurts FB but doesn't do much to help yourself when you do the same things on TikTok.

Re: How to permanently delete your Facebook account

#225

Post by bborud »

dotancohen wrote: post #18
bborud wrote: post #7

I think it should be a legal requirement that users are able to configure retention of their data. For instance that any content you post will only be retained for N number of weeks/ months/years. And that social media platforms over a certain size have to agree to auditing to ensure that this data is actually deleted.

As someone who implements these types of requirements, this suggestion just adds complexity where none is needed. In the software, and the database, and the backup strategy, and for the average user. Complexity requires time, money, and introduces bugs and user error. Right now we are required by law to remove user data upon request (Europe). That law is strong enough to cover those who need it.

Are you suggesting that not inconveniencing developers is more important than a right to privacy? I'd have to disagree with you if this is the case.

I've worked both for companies that fall under extra scrutiny by government due to market position and for companies that deal with data that has strict retention limits. Yes, it increases complexity, but the laws that seek to protect people's privacy are far more important than any inconvenience to companies.

(And yes: in both cases there were regular audits and any lack of compliance had very real consequences)

Re: How to permanently delete your Facebook account

#226

Post by bborud »

quaintdev wrote: post #137
bborud wrote: post #7

I think it should be a legal requirement that users are able to configure retention of their data. For instance that any content you post will only be retained for N number of weeks/ months/years. And that social media platforms over a certain size have to agree to auditing to ensure that this data is actually deleted.

This argument is flawed. How can you be sure if the policy is enforced at back-end? The better way is to create a solution where users have control over data and the apps interact with data. This should have been the model from the beginning but now I guess it will never happen. Even if someone successfully implements this it will be just as hard IPv6 to adopt if not more.

Audits.

(And yes, I've worked for companies that deal with lots of data that has strict retention limits by law, and oh boy were there audits and oh boy are you in trouble if/when you screw up)

As for your proposed solution: I don't think I understand what you mean. Could you expand on it?

Re: How to permanently delete your Facebook account

#227

Post by hetspookjee »

hdhdbid1 wrote: post #220
ploum wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact is that working for a company is investing a lot of your time and energy to make this company more powerful. Your work count. Really. So your work should be as much as possible aligned with your moral values. Lot of people blind themselves with the salary and weak justification. I find that complete hypocrisy. Now, is the company you are working for aligned with your own moral values? Only you can answer tha…

Its funny, lot of the responses for this thread are investing my retirement money and profiting off it is fine, using products/services of such companies is fine, but working there, that's where I draw the line, that's just morally wrong. Its a lot of I'll draw the line where I want to and belittle others who do it differently.

Well I think there’s quite the difference any. A regular user of Facebook is worth roughly tens of euros. But working there rewards you with a salary that’s easily upwards of 200k. Given that they’re not losing money if you, you could consider yourself as one of the few power users around by providing a value to evil corp north of your salary. So I think you can definitely differentiate between a regular user contributing 50euro of value, or contributing >200k of value. Making numbers up here but suffice to say you’re talking about an order of difference north of 100x. Definitely something to think about I reckon, and definitely something reasonable to draw the line at. Imagine hyping the evil corp and adding 100+ users would equate to a year of working there, roughly.

Re: How to permanently delete your Facebook account

#228

Post by wintermutestwin »

mimentum wrote: post #209
wintermutestwin wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is the problem that a lot of non-US mobile providers don't include SMS for free? I'm probably showing my ignorance around SMS and iMessage, but why can't SMS simply use your data allowance? Doesn't iMessage do this?

SMS runs through a different protocol and has different set standards; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS iMessage is a proprietary messaging system

Any idea why so many providers charge for SMS?

Re: How to permanently delete your Facebook account

#229

Post by demygale »

sgregnt wrote: post #207
classified wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They lie about everything else, why would this be different?

How this exageration contributes to a discussion here? It is very popular now to bash facebook. This kind of herd conformism and unsubstantiated claims are harming hacker news community in my humble opinion. If you do not bring new evidence or ideas, please refrain from exaggerated accusations.

All discussions about Facebook must include a reminder that they lie about everything. Pretending that they are trustworthy or reliable is disingenuous. Truths about Facebook’s lying can’t be repeated enough.

Re: How to permanently delete your Facebook account

#230

Post by circlefavshape »

hdhdbid1 wrote: post #220
ploum wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact is that working for a company is investing a lot of your time and energy to make this company more powerful. Your work count. Really. So your work should be as much as possible aligned with your moral values. Lot of people blind themselves with the salary and weak justification. I find that complete hypocrisy. Now, is the company you are working for aligned with your own moral values? Only you can answer tha…

Its funny, lot of the responses for this thread are investing my retirement money and profiting off it is fine, using products/services of such companies is fine, but working there, that's where I draw the line, that's just morally wrong. Its a lot of I'll draw the line where I want to and belittle others who do it differently.

How about working there and doing a bad job? Is that a moral postion?
Post reply on HN