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Why I Canceled My Facebook Account

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Re: Why I Canceled My Facebook Account

#41

Post by pilib »

Good for you. I deleted mine a little more than a year and a half ago, when rumors started appearing they would change their ToS and privacy policies in a way that would make me uncomfortable using the service.

I've tried to explain to friends why, but the only response I got from them was "I've got nothing to hide". In any case, with cheap/free hosting, I can host my profile page, with information I want to give away.

Some random quote from a comment (slashdot, perhaps?):

"People fail to realise that Google's and Facebook's customers are the advertisers, and the users are in fact the product they sell."

Re: Why I Canceled My Facebook Account

#42

Post by Silhouette »

tfh wrote: post #8
olaf wrote: post #2

I think, Mr. Zuckerberg is a more evil exploiter with weak ethics than I'm willing to accept.

Money has proven to be very effective in bending ethics. Many people would do worse for a fraction of Mr. Zuck's money. I think judging him as a evil exploiter with weak ethics is a little harsh.

> I think judging him as a evil exploiter with weak ethics is a little harsh.

Why? Doing something bad doesn't become OK just because you got paid a lot of money to do it. Indeed, a reasonable definition of ethical behaviour would be doing the right thing even when faced with significant incentives not to.

Re: Why I Canceled My Facebook Account

#44

Post by paulmeier »

I also have a personal domain name, and have been rather disgusted with Facebook's changes over the last few years.

I've thought of maybe doing a small redirection, in the style of Class.cpp/ClassImpl.cpp, where my FB profile just says "see my 'real' profile at myname.com," from where I can serve a static page with any information I like.

This way I could still expose whatever data I like, on my terms, and keep all the friend requests I've made.

Re: Why I Canceled My Facebook Account

#45

Post by emarcotte »

kmavm wrote: post #33
emarcotte wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I'm reading a magazine that has advertisements that is fine. They help cover the costs of production. If I join a club and they sell my information (where I live, who referred me, what actions I perform in the club) to another company that is an entirely different matter. Tracking via cookies/pixels,etc is getting pretty invasive too. When google does it, it is just as bad. Look at Buzz, have we already forgotten…

"If I join a club and they sell my information (where I live, who referred me, what actions I perform in the club) to another company that is an entirely different matter." I agree, and it has nothing to do with the discussion at hand: facebook does not do this, and never has.

Perhaps I don't understand what they do then? If they sell screen time for advertising and bundle it with my information how is that any different?

Re: Why I Canceled My Facebook Account

#46

Post by lwhi »

I think the rise of 'free' services and websites presents a set of quite dis-empowering problems for users.

Previously, after buying something, if we were unhappy in anyway we'd always be able to 'vote with our cash'. It was recognised that we deserved to be compensated if our experience of a company fell short.

Modern (free-to-access) sites obviously aren't free, we pay for usage by giving attention (via eyeballs or behaviour). However, this exchange of value isn't as tangible as it once was when we had to pay money for a service.

Maybe moving to a paid-for model might actually be better for consumers / participants - because we'd be able to make more explicit demands?

At the moment we can stop using the service - but the assessment a user makes is probably quite often weighed up against this illusion of 'zero-cost'.

Re: Why I Canceled My Facebook Account

#47

Post by kjuhgfghjk »

lwhi wrote: post #46

I think the rise of 'free' services and websites presents a set of quite dis-empowering problems for users. Previously, after buying something, if we were unhappy in anyway we'd always be able to 'vote with our cash'. It was recognised that we deserved to be compensated if our experience of a company fell short. Modern (free-to-access) sites obviously aren't free, we pay for usage by giving attention (via eyeballs or…

Like the quality of service and customer response you get with paid for cellphone and cable TV services?

Re: Why I Canceled My Facebook Account

#48

Post by jarek »

cmos wrote: post #29

I have never joined facebook, and am thankful for this. But I was suckered into joining linkedin, and when I saw they had uploaded my contacts list from my gmail account, I had to leave. Still not quite sure how they did that.

You had to have given them your Gmail password at one point. They keep on asking me to do it. (Yeah, right.)

Re: Why I Canceled My Facebook Account

#49

Post by nkassis »

SwellJoe wrote: post #36
philk wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With the possible drawback that anyone who you're connected to thinks that you're becoming a Belgian monk with a goat fetish.

If my friends don't know enough to recognize the blatant falsehoods, they aren't really my friends, now, are they?

For now but in the future, facebook will be the only way to communicate with your friends once they are placed in this little entertainment box with no window and only copyright safe media.

Re: Why I Canceled My Facebook Account

#50

Post by lwhi »

kjuhgfghjk wrote: post #47
lwhi wrote: post #46

I think the rise of 'free' services and websites presents a set of quite dis-empowering problems for users. Previously, after buying something, if we were unhappy in anyway we'd always be able to 'vote with our cash'. It was recognised that we deserved to be compensated if our experience of a company fell short. Modern (free-to-access) sites obviously aren't free, we pay for usage by giving attention (via eyeballs or…

Like the quality of service and customer response you get with paid for cellphone and cable TV services?

Well, maybe I'm in the minority - but when I'm not happy with something I pay for, I make damn sure it gets changed. It takes a bit of effort - and usually involves a bit of time, but it works.

What can we do with a company like Facebook or Google when we're no longer happy?

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