Nearly a Third of Tech Workers Are Ready To #DeleteFacebook (betanews.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from BetaNews: A survey conducted in the wake of the #DeleteFacebook campaign that followed revelations about the data breach and the logging of Android users' calls and texts, found that a surprising number of tech workers were ready to delete their Facebook accounts. 31 percent backed the #DeleteFacebook campaign, including 50 percent of Microsoft workers, and 38 percent of Google workers. The survey -- conducted using the anonymous app Blind -- found that nearly a third of those questioned were planning to delete their Facebook accounts. In all, over 2,600 people were surveyed between March 20, 2018 and March 24, 2018, so it neatly took in the peak of the controversy. Broken down by company, the numbers make for interesting reading:

-50 percent of Microsoft employees said they will delete Facebook.
-46 percent of Snapchat employees said they would delete Facebook.
-40 percent of Uber employees said they would delete Facebook.
-38 percent of Google employees said they would delete Facebook.
-34 percent of Amazon employees said they would delete Facebook.
-2 percent of Facebook employees said they would delete Facebook.

Comments

If you work in tech

[nehumanuscrede]

and you haven't deleted Facebook already, you're behind the curve I'm afraid.

You KNOW what they're doing. Why are you still there ?

Re:If you work in tech

[jfdavis668]

I downloaded what they have on me. Nothing I didn't post there in the first place. I know enough about tech to stop them from getting anything else.

Re:If you work in tech

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh please. I knew what they were doing when I joined. It's a trade off. Get over yourself.

Re: If you work in tech

[slazzy]

Same here, the only reason I have a Facebook account is to show potential employers I'm not too anti-social, I have cute dogs and some friends. Login once a year and like a few things. So far, I've gotten the jobs that I wanted to so I assume it works.

Re: If you work in tech

[Anonymous Coward]

I work in tech and am not on Facebook - for the sort of jobs I go for it's important to demonstrate to potential employers that I'm not stupid enough to be on Facebook.

Re:If you work in tech

[talldean]

It's incredibly useful to keep in touch with people, figure out what's going on this weekend, and rant about politics?

Also, considering Blind a reasonable sample of the tech industry is... well, has anyone else used that? It's, uh, odd.

Re:If you work in tech

[Anonymous Coward]

I downloaded what they have on me. Nothing I didn't post there in the first place.

And you trust that? Facebook decided what was available to "download", remember? Did you have unlimited query access to their data stores? How can you know what they have or don't have on you, short of an independent forensic audit?

I know enough about tech to stop them from getting anything else.

Did you know that your profile on Facebook and the data associated with it consists of more than simply what you gave them first hand? How can you work in tech and not have at least an inkling of that? Ever heard of data brokering? Yeah, it's a whole industry that knows just about everything about you despite the fact that you probably mostly never gave them any of it first hand. Please tell us you're not this naive.

Re: If you work in tech

[Anonymous Coward]

Where do you work that facebook friends counts as proof of social aptitude, a prison library?

Re: If you work in tech

[Anonymous Coward]

Facebook owns your data. I recall when MySpace took the dump, they started selling bundles of historical user data for analytics, marketing, etc. Facebook will do the same to make money.

Re:If you work in tech

[Excelcia]

And look at the wording "...would delete facebook...". Who is going to go through the trouble? What will really happen is they will stay off it for a few weeks, Facebook will ramp up their "we miss you" emails. You know, the ones like "So and so has messaged you ten times and you haven't responded. Click here to see their messages", and "Hey look at the ten single girls who would probably respond to a friend request, click here to see them". After a few of those they'll go back on and it will be business as usual.

I will be more impressed when I see "nearly a third of tech workers HAVE deleted Facebook". Then I'll think the movement is working.

Re:If you work in tech

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, "planning to delete their Facebook accounts" actually means that they're just going to acquiesce like the spineless drones that they are.

Talk is cheap. Do it or shut up.

Re:If you work in tech

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh please. I knew what they were doing when I joined. It's a trade off. Get over yourself.

You value whatever it is that you believe that you get out of Facebook more than whatever it is that you lose or think you lose, which is probably more than you think. However, there are many others of us, myself included, who think that Facebook exacts a terrible price for what amounts to a pittance of a service. This is not about being "full of ourselves", it's about us deciding, quite rationally in our opinion, that the costs of Facebook vastly outweigh the benefits. The election of Donald Trump as President of the United States and the stunning revelations of Cambridge Analytica clearly demonstrate the costs and strongly support our argument. At what point is Facebook no longer worth it to you or can they do no wrong in your estimation? Maybe you need to reconsider what it is you're getting out of Facebook, who else that's harming and whether that's still a defensible choice. You are contributing to Facebook merely by continuing to use it just as surely as if you were paying them with cash money. Is that what social responsibility means to you?

Re:If you work in tech

[swillden]

and you haven't deleted Facebook already, you're behind the curve I'm afraid.

You KNOW what they're doing. Why are you still there ?

This is self-congratulatory bullshit, twice over (and note that I deleted my Facebook account in 2010 or so, so I'm not defending my own actions here).

First. It's perfectly possible to work in tech, have a full appreciation for what Facebook has done, and to decide that the trade for the services received is acceptable. This may be because someone doesn't place a high value on privacy on principle, but only on actual negative effects they think they're likely to receive, and they think those are probably small (I actually agree with that). Alternatively, it may be because they place a very high value on the service, which is pretty common because for many people it is where all their family and friends are, and leaving Facebook would significantly reduce their information about those people. I'm not one of them, but I know many, many people who are in this category. Actually, the only reason I'm not one of them is because my wife is on Facebook and tells me what I need to know.

Oh, and don't give me any of that crap about how people got along without Facebook before it existed. That's a seriously stupid argument. It doesn't matter if people got along without Facebook before, by exchanging letters or phone calls or visits. If everyone you care about has moved that stuff to Facebook, then if you decide to leave Facebook you need them all to step up and start using those other mechanisms to communicate with you -- but only with you, because everyone else is on Facebook. Unless you have an outrageously high opinion of yourself you have to know that's not going to happen with any kind of consistency.

Second, you're acting as though there is no new information here, which is ridiculous. It is not the case that "everyone knew" that Facebook leaked information like a sieve. Sure, lots of cynics assumed (without reason or evidence, indeed despite all available reason and evidence) that Facebook resold all of the information it gathered about users. In fact, the recent news has made it even clearer that they don't sell data, else CA wouldn't have had to violate the ToS to steal the data they got on 50M users, they could have simply paid for it. Or the Trump campaign could have, then paid CA to analyze it.

It was reasonable (note that mashing the cynicism pedal to the floor isn't "reasonable", it's by-definition irrational) to assume that Facebook mostly kept the data close because that's how they could most effectively monetize it. And we don't have lots of stories of big Facebook data leaks. A few, and not terribly big, at least on a percentage basis (which is the only rational way to evaluate such risks).

I suppose it's possible that you know a lot about Facebook APIs and already knew that they could be abused to allow Facebook apps to gather data far beyond what users had actually approved sharing with them. If so, then why didn't you write up a paper and tell us all about it sooner, and thereby push Facebook to close the holes faster? It's possible you could even have gotten some cash from the bug bounty program (I don't think that's likely, but it's possible).

So, no, you didn't have that specific knowledge. You're just applying post hoc confirmation of your prior irrationally cynical bias and claiming it as proof that you weren't irrational. But that presumes that irrational behavior which turns out to be correct wasn't irrational. I could be screaming that Bitcoin will hit 100K tomorrow, with absolutely no rational basis for my claim, but whether or not it actually happens doesn't change the fact that my claim was irrational.

Now that we see how leaky Facebook has been, our estimate of probability of actual harm from leakage of private data must increase, which changes the cost/benefit calculation. Does it throw it entirely to the "Must delete Facebook now!" side? Of course not. There's a Laff

Re:If you work in tech

[e432776]

Dang it. I'm so far behind the curve I never got around to signing up/installing the app in the first place.

Re:If you work in tech

[Anonymous Coward]

First I have to quit smoking. But right after that... FB is history.

Re:If you work in tech

[rtb61]

There was a election way back in Australia and the Labour Party posted some stuff to face book and I wanted to peruse it, so an account was temporarily required. Managed to unknowingly offend some people when I would not respond to the forced Facebook must communicate everything scam, I was not logging in and I done the bit I was interested in and new used it beyond that. Little did I know I had to actively delete that account to escape the Facebook must read and post treadmill. So disconnected and checked a week latter, whoops, do that and the idiot account would reactive and require deletion again, have not even tried to log in since. More than a decade ago, pretty nasty stuff how you can offend people with a unused Facebook account and they made that happen on purpose.

Re:If you work in tech

[Anonymous Coward]

So, no, you didn't have that specific knowledge. You're just applying post hoc confirmation of your prior irrationally cynical bias and claiming it as proof that you weren't irrational. But that presumes that irrational behavior which turns out to be correct wasn't irrational.

The same was said about the Deep State. You were just a tin-foil hatter nutjub if you EVER thought there was good reason not to trust the federal government. Then along came Snowden. A similar thing is happening now with Facebook. Gulf of Tomkin? How many times must this happen to you, before you learn that not leaving yourself open to this same pattern in exchange for what is at best a luxury is in fact the rational choice?

You are claiming that rational skepticism is something like, "I am assuming this is in my interests until proven otherwise". I am telling you, these days, rational skepticism is "I assume this is to my detriment until solid falsifiable proof to the contrary is offered by parties who have no conflicts of interest." But you can go be naive if you want. This is not the era of individual rights. I want it to be, perhaps you want it to be, but it isn't. Adapt or be exploited. "Exploited" includes a great many things, among them is "become part of the problem by feeding a monster that will never have your interests at heart". No, thanks. Believe it or not, some of us still have a conscience and want to be happy with the things we were part of.

You can keep getting "surprised" by predictable things as "shocking revelations" emerge later on, if you want. That might tell you that you just could not have known. It tells me that you had the wrong kind of skepticism.

Re:If you work in tech

[viperidaenz]

They can't be that careful about what you can download.

The recent discovery that Facebook is retaining detailed call data from Android app users was found out by someone looking at the zip Facebook let him download.

Re: If you work in tech

[TheGratefulNet]

I've been quite desparate for jobs in the past (I'm over 50...) - but I'd never create a fb account JUST to 'show them' ... ANYTHING.

any job that you would not get BECAUSE of a lack of fb is no job worth having. and I'm saying that as someone who has been nearly broke from unemployment more times than I care to count.

I think you are lying to yourself, though. no job insists on having fb next to your name. you assume too much.

Re: If you work in tech

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure. I should leave Facebook. But I also need anway to know how my niece and nephew and cousins are doing.

So, you have no real relationship with these family members of yours beyond a monetized advertising platform? If that's really the case, it sounds like drifting apart might actually be the best possible outcome. It's more dignified and honest (especially with yourself) than keeping failed, meaningless relationships on life support because you're afraid to move on.

Or you could do something old-fashioned like spend real time with them at least once in a while. You mention a niece and a nephew, so I assume these are (relative) youngsters and you are their elder. You could have a very positive influence on them by showing with your example that family is worth investing time into, that relationships are not cheap disposable things that should be based entirely on convenience and that instant gratification is not the most noble goal in life. These are things that the older folks are supposed to be modelling for the younger folks. Remember back when that was a thing?

Re:If you work in tech

[msauve]

"...would..."

The article is BS. Do. Or do not. There is no try.

Re:If you work in tech

[Anonymous Coward]

You know that even if you don't have a profile on FB they still have a dark profile on you, from a combination of friends uploading their contacts, the obvious recently released info about the call and messaging details, and then all the tracking they do throughout the web. There's really no way around it, unless you're a total social recluse they probably have some info on you.

At least having a profile setup on facebook you don't have to worry about someone else signing up as you and can control / lock down some of the privacy settings.

Re:If you work in tech

[Anonymous Coward]

You know that even if you don't have a profile on FB they still have a dark profile on you, from a combination of friends uploading their contacts

I don't have any friends.

Checkmate, Facebook.

Re: If you work in tech

[dgatwood]

I'd be less likely to hire someone who would be less likely to hire someone who had a Facebook account, because it implies that:

• When friends move away, you never bother to keep in touch with them.
• You were so cliquish in high school that you never want to hear from anybody back there ever again.
• You were equally cliquish in college.
• You still didn't learn to get along, and now hate everyone at every previous employer.
• You only keep people around when those people help you, and as soon as you no longer need them, you throw them away.
• You tend to make broad, sweeping assumptions based on the assumption that everyone must think the way you do, or else they must be stupid.

In short, it is a strong indication that you're precisely the opposite of the sort of person that I would want to work with. In fact, in a bit of dramatic irony, your post exhibits some of the classic symptoms of the very narcissism you're claiming that all Facebook users exhibit. Hilarious.

I put pretty much the entire "Delete Facebook" noise into the same mental bucket as your post. Facebook only gets what you and others give them. Don't want them to have information? Say less and click less frequently. Deleting Facebook won't keep other people from saying things about you, though it will prevent you from correcting hurtful untruths. Either way, on the whole, the only thing you can really control is what you do or say on Facebook, which means the best thing to do is to keep Facebook, but use it less.

Re:If you work in tech

[Anonymous Coward]

Hopefully tech workers are smart enough to have multiple accounts, or run their own mail server where you can setup a custom email alias for everyone you do business with. In my case I have a facebook@mydomain.com email account for facebook. If I ever choose to delete it and they were to start spamming me, i can just nuke the facebook@ alias and all their spam will just bounce back at them.

Re:If you work in tech

[Anonymous Coward]

Those who are really ahead of the curve never signed up for a Facebook account in the first place. I always saw it as just a place to brag about self. While I enjoy positive feedback just fine, thank you, I don't seem to need it like I was addicted to it. Unlike, apparently, hundreds of millions of other folks (including, per the main article here, lots of tech workers).

Re: If you work in tech

[vux984]

"When friends move away, you never bother to keep in touch with them."

To be fair, I don't consider facebook keeping in touch. Really keeping in touch is orthogonal to having a facebook account.

"You were so cliquish in high school that you never want to hear from anybody back there ever again. You were equally cliquish in college."

Randos who got their education at the same time as me in the same building as me but who were never my real friend at the time? Why would that make me want to be pretend friends with them now out of the blue for no reason?

"You still didn't learn to get along, and now hate everyone at every previous employer."

Kind of the same thing. If we are friends, then we keep in touch. If we were not then, I can't imagine why i'd pretend we were now.

"You only keep people around when those people help you, and as soon as you no longer need them, you throw them away."

Oh?? Is facebook where we stash people who might be useful to us as contacts for some reason in the future? I sort of thought that was linkedin.

"You tend to make broad, sweeping assumptions based on the assumption that everyone must think the way you do, or else they must be stupid."

I can respect a different but well reasoned opinion. I haven't really seen one for being on facebook.

"Deleting Facebook won't keep other people from saying things about you, though it will prevent you from correcting hurtful untruths. "

I don't have a facebook account. And that seems like a truly terrible reason to join. If people are really gossiping about me on facebook... its not going to go away if I step in the shit 'to set the record straight'. Arguably, having no presence there minimize the likelihood of being the center of attention. Streisand effect and all. The worst way to make something unwanted go away is to draw attention to it.

Re: If you work in tech

[Anonymous Coward]

Friends come and go. They are supposed to. People who desperately try to hang on to everyone they ever knew are insecure losers who aren't good at meeting new people.

Re:If you work in tech

[darth.hunterix]

To poison their well. If you don't have an account they just shadow profile you and have only truthful data about you. If do have an account, you can create a lot of noise, which hides your genuine activities. Better yet, log from VM set up for that specific purpose to make tracking harder.

Remember:
1. The only way to hide is to blend in.
2. The best disinformation is too much information.
3. Offence is the best defence.

Re:If you work in tech

[coastwalker]

Good points. It surprises me that so many people are under the illusion that having an account makes any difference. Try using a script blocker like uMatrix on Firefox for a while and you will see that almost every website on the planet is trying to track you with Facebook and Google scripts. They have a profile on you whether you think you have one or not. The trick is to screw around with it as much as possible. Moving on from script blockers one should probably move on to using VPN and ultimately Tor. Perhaps someone could comment on the effectiveness of this.

I quit reading Facebook posts a couple of years ago when they started pushing more advertising in Europe. I was also distressed to see ignorant people re-posting "Britain First" propaganda. (Britain First's leaders just got sent to jail for hate crimes. Nasty self promoting scum who are using nationalism and race hate to make money for themselves.) So the debacle of AQ and Cambridge Analytica weaponizing personal data and advertising to throw elections, bring about the exit of the UK from the EU and mess with third world countries comes as no surprise. Any politician who thinks that the Russians have not been doing the same thing are cretins who should be lined up and shot for treason. Presumably the ones that are denying this are in fact already being paid for by Putin's gangster state.

I am not sure that you can do much about the data that Facebook and the like collect but you certainly can do something about regulating the use of it. Instead of worrying about migration we should be worrying about what the owners of big data are going to do with our lives because slavery to those owners is already happening.

Re:If you work in tech

[thegarbz]

You KNOW what they're doing. Why are you still there ?

Because I don't care.
Because the information they have is quite meaningless.
Because the service still offers things I want despite the fact I pretty much never post stuff.

Re:If you work in tech

[goose-incarnated]

"...would..." The article is BS. Do. Or do not. There is no try.

Tell that to Uber's self-driving researchers.

Re: If you work in tech

[Anonymous Coward]

You're a fucking idiot.

I don't have facebook, because I value my privacy.

Fuck, your "job". Fuck your "thinking".

Re: If you work in tech

[Opportunist]

And of course we will delete it. Honestly. We will. This time, for sure, we will. Promised.

Re: If you work in tech

[Anonymous Coward]

Your list of implications is absolutely insane and I pity the people who have to work with you.

Re: If you work in tech

[TheRaven64]

Facebook might own the legal rights to use the information you gave them

Last time I read the Facebook T&Cs, they owned an irrevocable, commercial, sublicensable, transferable license to anything that you upload. Oh, and you agreed to indemnify them in cases where it turned out that you weren't legally able to assign those rights. They may not own the uploaded content in a strictly legal sense, but they own the rights to do pretty much anything except claim that they created it (in jurisdictions where Moral Rights are a thing - not in most of the USA) and to prevent you from granting the same rights to anyone else.

Re:If you work in tech

[coofercat]

I'd say you were in the minority. I think a lot of people understood that if they posted a picture of their dog that they'd get some dog related advertising. A few years down the road and a after a chat with a techie, they might have realised that if they click about on the Internet on cat websites that when you log onto facebook you might see some cat related adverts.

What I don't think very many people knew is that data was bought and sold to a myriad of companies that you have never heard of. They then used and abused that data in order to subtly influence you and other people in ways you weren't aware of (and in places not marked with "advertisment"). That those companies got so good at their 'secret influencing' that they claim to be able to manipulate the outcome of elections. This is a world away from showing you ads based on the crap you posted on the site, and so it's somewhat unreasonable to expect 'average joe' to have understood all that at sign-up time.

I'll just finish by saying that Cambridge Analytica is just one of thousands of organisations collecting facebook (and other) data. Not all of them are crooked, but I'll bet right now there are hundreds of them all looking on fileservers and in databases to delete any data they collected (and have used) but should not have had. Again, I'd imagine "average joe" would be trusting enough to assume FB was doing a considerably better job of controlling the 'leak' of data than it actually has done.

Re:If you work in tech

[Anonymous Coward]

> "It's incredibly useful to keep in touch with people, "

Telephone, email, conversations.

>"figure out what's going on this weekend, and "

Internet, telephone, email, conversations.

>"rant about politics?"

The pub.

Facebook is for retards, small girls and imbeciles.

Re:If you work in tech

[Anonymous Coward]

You should consider the fact FB employees are likely required to have FB accounts.

Re: If you work in tech

[Miser]

Right with you there AC.

Never had Facebook. What does that say about me?

I knew about their "Hoovering" (vacuum for those that didn't get the reference) way before all this Cambridge stuff came out, just didn't have any proof of course. I do not have time to constantly be chasing their security settings/what they share/what they gather/etc.

The only winning move is not to play.

Re:If you work in tech

[gnick]

The recent discovery that Facebook is retaining detailed call data from Android app users was found out by someone looking at the zip Facebook let him download.

Have you actually looked at that .zip? Here are a few things I found:
* Call numbers & durations for a portion of 2016
* List of every app that is, or has been, installed on my current & previous phones
* Complete transcripts of every conversation I've had using messenger
* No location history information
* No web tracking history

They're not giving us everything with the "Download my Facebook data" option.

Re: If you work in tech

[Gr8Apes]

To be fair, I don't consider facebook keeping in touch. Really keeping in touch is orthogonal to having a facebook account.

That statement comes from a position of privilege. I'd love to be able to travel around and actually do things with my friends, but I can't afford to. I can afford to communicate with them on Facebook. You're a privileged elitist.

I guess all these semi private communication avenues are new to you?

• Phones (call them)
• SMS (text them)
• Email (send them actual cohesive sentences, pictures, and even short videos)
• Video chat (There are numerous implementations to choose from to make a phone call that much more interactive and personal)

But yeah, I guess FaceBook is the only way to keep in touch in an affordable way.

Re:If you work in tech

[jrumney]

* No location history information

Mine has "Location inferred from IP address" up until mid 2016, that is logging in exclusively from web browsers. I'd expect that if you were using the app, and had given it location permissions, it would have snarfed that as well. .

* No web tracking history

Not web tracking per se, but they have a full record of which ads you have clicked on (mine has about 6 records over 8 years, all of which I suspect were accidental slips of the mouse).

Re:If you work in tech

[gnick]

Mine has "Location inferred from IP address" up until mid 2016...

Mine doesn't; at least I haven't found it. I wonder what the difference is. In any case, I'm more concerned with the location information they get using "Location Services". I once stopped in a parking lot on the way home from work. That evening, FB asked me about my visit to a business that shared that parking lot. I want to know what's up.

Not web tracking per se, but they have a full record of which ads you have clicked on...

Mine had a list of ads I've clicked on within Facebook but I'm more interested in what they've scraped up about my activities away from their site.

The information they provide in that .zip file seems to be a fraction of your profile containing what you expect to see while hiding the juicy stuff.

Re:If you work in tech

[geoscodin]

Hey now! Let's be fair. Not everyone is in it for the praise. Some people like to talk about awful their lives are.

Re: If you work in tech

[vux984]

With several of my friends keeping in touch is just SMS, phone calls, voice chat, and hooking up for a round of something on steam or playing a remote game of chess, while chatting. You can stay in touch pretty darn cheaply.

While I don't have facebook, the people around me that do are usually doing far less, albeit with more people. And most of their time is consumed by drama queens and spam.

Re:If you work in tech

[iMadeGhostzilla]

FB is a great way to get useful -- as in life-useful -- information from those one or two people in your list who often post stuff that is somehow just what you need. It is also a great way for you to affect others in the same way with what you post or share.

Then, it is a great way to break the echo chamber. If I see, outside of FB, a relevant and provocative news article that I know my echo-chamber friends won't see, I'll make an effort to find that same article on FB and like or comment to it and so make sure it tickles my friends' (I'm using the term in FB sense) curiosity when it appears in their feed -- most won't be able to resist reading it. Wouldn't have happened without FB!

Finally, it is a great way to practice a bit of writing here and there by essentially using FB for blogging. If you write about provocative topics, sensibly, you won't get many likes but you will be read.

All that said, I deactivated my FB account a week before CA "scandal" (not that I believe they helped Trump and not that I would mind) simply because I couldn't bear the mental noise that frequent awareness of FB posts and comments created in my head. Now I feel like it's 2005, my thoughts are my own, I exchange them in measured ways with others, and it's all quiet again. I'm not going back.

Re:If you work in tech

[NominalLoss]

This is so wrong its bordering on ignorant. I have to suspect you are a paid Russian troll. First, Google doesn't sell personal information, they sell directed advertising. Massive difference. Second, Google is an information procurer, a breach of trust of any kind would send customers fleeing to Bing and other competitors. Search is Google's bread and butter. Android is irrelevant with the exception of it being another vehicle to push search. Quit posting idiotic crap that you know nothing about.

Re: If you work in tech

[MooseTick]

I'd be less likely to hire someone who would be less likely to hire someone who would be less likely to hire someone who had a Facebook account, because it implies that:

I am experiencing some sort of Inception

Re:If you work in tech

[skids]

Those who are really ahead of the curve never signed up for a Facebook account in the first place.

I certainly don't consider myself "ahead of the curve" for never wanting to have anything to do with facebook. For me it was just a matter of having principles and sticking to them.

Re: If you work in tech

[dgatwood]

I don't have facebook, because I value my privacy.

I value my privacy, too. That's why I limit what I share. You choose to share nothing, and that's fine, too. But apart from some purely theoretical "If enough people leave Facebook, the company will die and everyone will get back more of their privacy" argument, there cannot possibly be any privacy benefit to not having a Facebook account.

To use a car analogy, rejecting Facebook because of privacy is like rejecting automobiles and walking everywhere out of concerns over pollution. It requires completely ignoring the fact that you choose how much you drive a car, whether the car is gas-powered or electric, and whether you get your electricity from renewable sources exclusively or not. From a pollution perspective, you are in complete control over how much pollution your car produces. (And even that analogy doesn't go far enough, because EVs cost a lot more than ICE cars; choosing not to post private stuff on FB doesn't cost you anything.)

In much the same way, from a privacy perspective, you are in complete control over how much you share with Facebook. If you're concerned about tracking on other sites, there are tools to block that. You can also use a separate browser (or, if you're really paranoid, a VPN and a separate browser) when using Facebook. And you can limit what you share explicitly if you have an account; it isn't as though your fingers magically type Facebook messages and click "Post" beyond your control. And you can't control what other people share, whether you have an account or not. So having a Facebook account is effectively a no-op from a privacy perspective; at worst, it has a negligible impact. It's what you do with it that impacts your privacy, just like what car you drive, how far you drive, and how fast you drive dictates how much your car pollutes.

It's okay to admit that you don't see the benefit of Facebook. That's a perfectly valid position. But privacy is an excuse, and it's not cool to mislead people about the privacy implications of using Facebook merely because you don't personally see the benefit of it.

Re: If you work in tech

[skids]

FWIW, if I were looking for work, It'd sure be a relief to work for someone who has a sane perspective on privacy issues and a firm understanding of what made the Internet great before it got ruined.

Re:If you work in tech

[viperidaenz]

I've haven't looked personally.
I also haven't had a phone with the facebook app installed, so I don't need to worry about them collecting my contacts, calls, app installs, etc.

Re: If you work in tech

[drinkypoo]

With several of my friends keeping in touch is just SMS, phone calls, voice chat, and hooking up for a round of something on steam or playing a remote game of chess, while chatting. You can stay in touch pretty darn cheaply.

You know all of that stuff is being logged and recorded by someone, right? The feds are literally capturing every SMS, every voice call... There is no privacy. I don't do what Fb tells me to do politically, so exactly why would I stop using it?

Re: If you work in tech

[vux984]

"You know all of that stuff is being logged and recorded by someone, right?"

But not the *same* someone in each case. That's important right there.

" The feds are literally capturing every SMS, every voice call"

Perhaps, perhaps not. The metadata for sure. But even if they are they can't really do anything too overt with it. They aren't selling it or advertising with it.

"There is no privacy."

There is no absolute privacy, but there are certainly degrees. Just because I can't have absolute privacy doesn't mean I'm willing to install a facebook camera and microphone on my lapel.

" I don't do what Fb tells me to do"

Because you and your circle are immune to advertising? It doesn't work right? And you are also immune from the gamification and endorphin hits built into the platform to generate stickyness and addiction and keep engagement high? To literally keep you wasting time, so that they can show you more ads and harvest more data.

"so exactly why would I stop using it?"

Because none of the above was enough?
Because the sole reason it exists doesn't offend you?

For me, honestly, perhaps the biggest reason i don't use it is because I see it as cesspool of gossip and personal drama. narcissists trying to make themselves look popular / successful / interesting with selfies and photos and discussions of what they purchased or ate any given day; where shallow bullshit and clickbait rule, where people shout all day while nobody listens. I have no desire to be that type of person, or to engage in that kind of activity. Let alone engage in it on a platform designed for the sole purpose of violating my privacy while convincing me to buy crap i don't need or want. The fact that it has real name policies, engages in social graphing and facial recognition, and reaches far beyond the input I might give it directly... that's just beyond the pale.

You could try to call me a hypocrit for posting on /. but I see them as worlds apart. There are elements of /. that tend in the direction of the things i don't like about facebook, but as with privacy, it is a question of degree. If /. is a room with some moldy spots, facebook is a septic tank.

Re: If you work in tech

[drinkypoo]

Because you and your circle are immune to advertising? It doesn't work right? And you are also immune from the gamification and endorphin hits built into the platform to generate stickyness and addiction and keep engagement high? To literally keep you wasting time, so that they can show you more ads and harvest more data.

I block ads! I hardly ever even see one in general, including on Facebook. I'm not immune, so I've cultivated an artificial immune system.

Re: If you work in tech

[bingoUV]

I put pretty much the entire "Delete Facebook" noise into the same mental bucket as your post. Facebook only gets what you and others give them. Don't want them to have information? Say less and click less frequently. Deleting Facebook won't keep other people from saying things about you, though it will prevent you from correcting hurtful untruths. Either way, on the whole, the only thing you can really control is what you do or say on Facebook, which means the best thing to do is to keep Facebook, but use it less.

Wouldn't "Delete Facebook" keep people who have Facebook now from divulging information about others to Facebook ? Some of the information, maybe ? Does elementary ethics have any value for you ?

Re: If you work in tech

[bingoUV]

I don't have facebook, because I value my privacy.

But privacy is an excuse, and it's not cool to ...

So, if he said "I don't use facebook, because I value my privacy.", it would be "cool" ? Isn't not having something is a nice way of not using it, in general ? And in the specific case of Facebook, isn't not having it a nice way of using it less?

Or are you saying it is the duty of everyone to make an account with Facebook ? Or "have" Facebook with some other definition like installing the App on one's phone and staying logged into it ? So that idiots who like to tag people can tag the specific Mohammed Lee that is me instead of just saying "Mohammed Lee" and letting Facebook do the hard work of finding out which one they mean ?

In essence, what is wrong with not having it in order to value one's privacy ?

Re:If you work in tech

[bingoUV]

It is not the case that "everyone knew" that Facebook leaked information like a sieve

As usual, you are inverting the burden of proof. It is not up to Facebook avoiders / avoidance enthusiasts to prove that information is / will be leaked. It is up to Facebook to prove that it could not be. Since it cannot be unleaked once leaked.

just applying post hoc confirmation of your prior irrationally

No, it is "evidence" for people who do not understand logic, who earlier mistakenly claimed that Facebook not having been caught as a vector of large scale data abuse is proof that it is impossible. While it was always a mistaken claim, now the prior action is increasingly justified even according to their faulty logic.

Now that we see how leaky Facebook has been, our estimate of probability of actual harm from leakage of private data must increase

Only with foresight impaired massively. If you can't plan your way out of a paper bag. Since they cannot un-share the information they shared, or willingly allowed to be shared with Facebook earlier. And this was known with full certainty all along - data can never provably be "deleted" at a remote location not controlled by you.

Re:If you work in tech

[swillden]

It is not the case that "everyone knew" that Facebook leaked information like a sieve

As usual, you are inverting the burden of proof. It is not up to Facebook avoiders / avoidance enthusiasts to prove that information is / will be leaked. It is up to Facebook to prove that it could not be. Since it cannot be unleaked once leaked.

You fail at reading comprehension. The claim was that everyone knew something. That claim is untrue. I'm not saying anything about whether what they allegedly knew is true or not.

Re:If you work in tech

[bingoUV]

I understand why you didn't quote the "claim". Because you are being dishonest about it.

Read :

If you work in tech
  and you haven't deleted Facebook already, you're behind the curve I'm afraid.
You KNOW what they're doing. Why are you still there ?

It does not mean what your strawman said :

It is not the case that "everyone knew" that Facebook leaked information like a sieve

Specifically, "you know what they're doing" does not mean "everyone knew that Facebook leaked information like a sieve".

Re: If you work in tech

[dgatwood]

So, if he said "I don't use facebook, because I value my privacy.", it would be "cool" ? Isn't not having something is a nice way of not using it, in general ? And in the specific case of Facebook, isn't not having it a nice way of using it less?

I would argue that not having an account means you can't see what other people are saying about you, so you have slightly *less* privacy.

Either way, what you're really saying when you say that you're rejecting Facebook because of privacy is that you're rejecting Facebook because you don't want to share *anything*, which is a relatively rare position. Using the word "privacy" implies that everyone should feel the same way as you do, because most people do value their privacy (but not to the point of not sharing *anything*).

Re: If you work in tech

[bingoUV]

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/...

http://www.dictionary.com/brow...

Re: If you work in tech

[dgatwood]

Posting a dictionary definition of "privacy" is cute, but utterly irrelevant. I'm not talking about explicit meaning here. I'm talking about the implied meaning perceived by an average person.

By saying that you're doing something because of privacy, in the minds of most readers, you're implying that Facebook takes away your right to privacy, whereas in reality, Facebook enables sharing, allowing you to choose to make things public. That's an important distinction, and denying that distinction just makes you look paranoid.

To use a car analogy, this is like saying that you reject cars for safety reasons; that implies that cars are inherently dangerous, whereas in reality, they're a relatively safe mode of travel (safer than walking, statistically).

Re:If you work in tech

[Maxo-Texas]

Oh... The irony of that statement by an "Anonymous Coward"

My sides are hurting. Good one!

Re: If you work in tech

[bingoUV]

Words have meanings. Spying on others has never been called enhancing one's own privacy. Either by the "average person", nor by " most readers ".

Re:If you work in tech

[minstrelmike]

He's probably telling the truth. And as long as he has no friends, then they didn't lose their data either.

Re: If you work in tech

[TheGratefulNet]

fuck off, buddy.

you have no idea what my life has been like. you think I'm rich or priviledged? just WHAT makes you think that?

I've had only pocket change to my name before. you don't know shit about me and you are certainly NOT in any position to judge me.

so, just fuck off.

My shocked face

[Anonymous Coward]

30% of #FACEBOOKCOMPETITOR employees say they would delete Facebook. [Until their boss leaves and they whisper 'no I wouldn't ever.']

Re:My shocked face

[Narcocide]

Hello Facebook employees. Google "Stockholm Syndrome" and meditate on why it it's obviously relevant to anyone reading these two posts.

Re:My shocked face

[jrumney]

Or... 98% of Facebook employees already deleted it, since they know how creepy it is for their employer to be tracking them in that way. The other 2% are janitorial staff.

But will they do it?

[quonset]

Saying you'll delete your Facebook account is one thing. Doing it is another. Especially in the tech industry where if you're not on at least half a dozen anti-social media sites, people will think there's something wrong with you.

Until these people actually delete their accounts, it's all talk.

Re: But will they do it?

[Anonymous Coward]

FB withdrawal is going to separate the weak from the strong. Once you set the FB account to delete, thereâ(TM)s a 14 day grace period to have second thoughts. During that time, they nag the fuck out of you to come back.

Donâ(TM)t be a pussy. Delete it including the phone app, and endure their SPAMing for two weeks. If you canâ(TM)t do that, you are a pathetic excuse for human being!

Re: But will they do it?

[Bing Tsher E]

How would they 'nag the fuck out of me'??

I haven't logged onto Facebook since maybe sometime in February (that I don't really remember.) If I log on to say 'delete me' I certainly would not log on again within 14 days.

Re:But will they do it?

[viperidaenz]

Don't worry, mewe.com has the standard "fuck you in the ass if we can" clause

MeWe reserves the right, in our sole discretion to modify these Terms, effective upon the date a revised Terms of Service is posted on the Site with notice to you, the User, of such modification. Your continued use of the Service constitutes your binding acceptance of the terms and conditions of this Agreement, as they are amended, revised and posted on the Site periodically. We may assign our rights and obligations under these Terms, including in connection with a merger, acquisition, sale of assets or equity, or by operation of law.

They'll be all nice to you and your privacy until if some day they find themselves in a position of power. Then they'll change the terms and bend you over.

Kind of like what Facebook did.

Re:But will they do it?

[wvmarle]

I for one didn't even know it's possible to delete anything from Facebook.

Disable your account, sure. Hide messages from everyone including your self, no problem. But actually deleting stuff? I highly doubt it. Whatever you place on Facebook will be there for eternity.

Just like /. comments, for that matter. But without that much tracking.

Anyway, not going to delete my account. Too useful to promote my local business, and it helps many people to contact me. If only they realise that it's not the way for last-moment contact (that's why I always give my phone number) as I don't have the app. Never had. Don't want to. Too little use and WAY too much tracking/monitoring.

Re:But will they do it?

[slipped_bit]

I'm not on Facebook, or Twitter, or Snapchat, or Google+, or any other similar site. And I've always known there was something wrong with me so it's OK if other people think that, too. But I like it here. It's a good place to be. I'm happy in this little slice of the world that is mine, where I'm only being judged by cats.

Re: But will they do it?

[Bing Tsher E]

Yeah, I guess you're right. Sylpheed has a 'facebook' folder that all the facebook junk gets fed into. I just looked and yeah, there are 37 unread messages there.

Keyword: unread.

Frogs on a log.

[Mistlefoot]

There is an old proverb:
There are 5 frogs on a log.
2 of them decide to jump into the water.
How many frogs remain on the log?

The answer is 5. As deciding to do something is not the same as doing something.

31% are ready to do it. But that 31% hasn't yet. What is holding them back?

Re:Frogs on a log.

[Anonymous Coward]

31% are ready to do it. But that 31% hasn't yet. What is holding them back?

Occam's Razor would tell you that STUPIDITY is what is holding them back.

Why would people do something stupid and continue to do it ? Probably because those people are STUPID !!!

Listen, just because someone works in tech doesn't mean that person is intelligent in a wide-spectrum way. It just means they are a trained monkey and are able to do what their masters want them to do.

Re:Frogs on a log.

[mark-t]

More likely what is holding them back is the lack of any widely used alternative that does everything that people would have expected from Facebook without having to use multiple services.

Re:Frogs on a log.

[supremebob]

Probably their relatives are holding them back. You know the ones, who practically demand that you post pictures of your kids on Facebook so they can watch them grow up without getting off their lazy asses and coming to visit.

Yeah... not that I'm bitter or anything :)

Re:Frogs on a log.

[Subm]

> 31% are ready to do it. But that 31% hasn't yet. What is holding them back?

They're procrastinating on Slashdot.

Re:Frogs on a log.

[mark-t]

When did I suggest that it was anything other than what people might want?

Lots of people want stuff they don't need. That doesn't make them stupid, it just means they want stuff they don't need.

You didn't need to post any of what you said... but you did. Does that make you stupid for doing so?

Re:Frogs on a log.

[thegarbz]

NO ONE NEEDS

Nope, but clearly over a billion people WANT.

Re:Frogs on a log.

[Gornkleschnitzer]

Are you, perhaps, a person with such relatives?

I'm sure none of us will judge you for it if you "address the situation" and then respond, "Sorry, I don't have a Facebook account anymore. I don't agree with their practices." Sometimes the only way to deal with people who keep up a habit that inconveniences you is simply to make it impossible for it to continue.

Source: Defenses proven effective against immature people in my own life.

Cry me a river

[ArchieBunker]

What is the big outrage here? Did everyone not see that screen when you installed the app asking for permission to access every single area of your phone? Why did you think it needed access to the microphone or your contacts? You 100% gave permission for this.

Re:Cry me a river

[AHuxley]

PRISM should have stopped all use of social media in global corporate environments.
Some brands top cyber security experts just enjoy social media too and don't want to stop it at work?

Re:Cry me a river

[tsqr]

1. Install the app.
2. Do not run the app until completing step 3.
3. Turn off all the permissions you don't want the app to have.
4. Relax

Re:Cry me a river

[AmiMoJo]

You don't have to install the app, just speaking near someone who installed it.

And even if you did agree, I doubt many people saw the microphone permission as agreeing to have all their conversations sent to Facebook, and I have a feeling most courts would agree.

Even if they put "we will record you 24/7" in their ToS it would still be morally indefensible, considering how deliberately unreadable those things are.

Re:Cry me a river

[Bryansix]

The problem is the false dichotomy that Facebook created. Either accept all of the permissions requests or you can't use the app. It should never have been that way. I should be able to use the app and give it no permissions.

"Ready too"

[kamapuaa]

You either delete it or you don't. This is like people who are going to start going to the gym "next week."

Re:"Ready too"

[PPH]

people who are going to start going to the gym

Same people by the looks of them.

Re:"Ready too"

[ausekilis]

Except I will start going to the gym "next week", then when April 2nd comes around I'll be living in "this week" - and it will never be "next week". Until there is a solid date/time, "next anything" won't ever mean anything.

Going back to MySpace

[jfdavis668]

Tom is ready to welcome me back.

Re:Going back to MySpace

[antdude]

Friendster. Oh wait...

Re:Going back to MySpace

[Bratch]

Well at least on myspace.com you can login with your Facebook account ...

Competitors

[AHuxley]

When competitors talk of doing something to another brand its all for the users privacy.

How much did social media profit from your workers use of social media while at work over the years?
Why did you allow your workers to risk company security by using social media at work?
Who in your company thought it would be ok for social media to track your workers habits and sell that data about your company to anyone with cash?
Time to stop using other brands social media at work. Create your own networks that are safe and help your company be more productive.
Social media is a brand that is using your workers for its profits on your time. Your company networks are paying for social media to profit from your workers.

Time to stop social media selling data about your company and the inner workings of your company.
Secure your company. Block social media and start protecting your brand.

Facebook should be like Prometheus

[Anonymous Coward]

Every day, Mark Zuckerberg is chained to the side of a large data center.

Every day, an eagle comes to eat his liver, and then deletes its Facebook

No way I am going to delete my Facebook account

[OneHundredAndTen]

How else could I automatically log in to sites for comments, while making sure that the junk that that will elicit will end up in the black hole that is my Facebook account, which, otherwise, I couldn't care less about? I need my Facebook account as a trash dump.

I've heard this joke before

[Presence Eternal]

Do a google image search for "boycott mw2" sometime. It's the punchline to a very funny joke.

Re:I've heard this joke before

[sd4f]

Yea gamers are so laughable with these sorts of things. I watched one interview with GabeN, and regarding the L4D2 boycott, he even said that the boycott group were the fastest to buy the game.

You insenstive clod!

[PPH]

How can I delete something I never had?

Re:You insenstive clod!

[ausekilis]

Make an account with some fake info, then delete it. That'll show 'em.

But why?

[Gaygirlie]

All the people jumping on the bandwagon because it's trendy will just end up joining some other social-media platform that does the exact same stuff. They want their social-media stuff, they're not going to drop that stuff out of their lives entirely; they'll just find some other platform and continue business as usual, never having actually learned the lesson here.

if it was up to me

[FudRucker]

i would blacklist facebook's domains from the internet, have the police confiscate all of facebook's computers & data servers, remove all the harddrives and run them through shredders, all of facebook's employees would have their homes searched if there was even a chance they could have users personal info, and if they do have any they would be arrested for identity theft or conspiracy to commit identity theft, i would have the courts play really hard on this because people's personal info is not to be played with like a commodity

Re:if it was up to me

[DontBeAMoran]

Dude, that sounds like too much work. Call Ellen Ripley and ask her how she's do it.

Deceiving Ourselves

[Bruce Perens]

If most people who understand tech are like me, you never thought commercial social networks were a good idea, you joined them only reluctantly because lots of other people were on them and you needed them for business purposes, and you still have really mixed feelings about them.

However, the average person is eager to give away their privacy and can't be bothered to assure their own security.

So, aren't we kidding ourselves to think that anyone but us is going to delete Facebook?

Re:Deceiving Ourselves

[Narcocide]

I never had a Facebook account at all. That didn't stop someone else from signing up under my name and catfishing people I knew for years before anyone bothered to mention it to me. So, I think we're kidding ourselves if we think that deleting Facebook will actually stop them from harvesting anything.

Re:Deceiving Ourselves

[Narcocide]

They've had their own share of shady behavior though, what with the glaringly simplistic XSS vulnerabilities in their front-end web code and the way their system starts spamming you to join if you don't already have an account when someone else searches for you on the site but then lets them think you do have an account by not distinguishing search results for "people other people have searched for" from "people who actually have accounts already."

OOps

[hcs_$reboot]

> -50 percent of Microsoft employees said they will delete Facebook

-50? We have either an arithmetic error or a punctuation flaw

Wonder how many were

[p51d007]

told by their current employer to say they would delete facebook???

Re:Wonder how many were

[Bing Tsher E]

If any had been told that by their employer, it would have leaked. That would have been the headline for this thread.

Re:Wonder how many were

[Narcocide]

Personally I wonder how many of the other 98% of Facebook employees lied for fear of persecution.

That's nice

[Anonymous Coward]

Now can we figure out how to make Facebook delete the information they're keeping about me, without my consent? I have no FB account to delete.

Hmm...

[93 Escort Wagon]

”40 percent of Uber employees said they would delete Facebook.”

Although, in that particular case, the complaint was Facebook isn’t evil enough for their tastes.

So stop talking about it!

[kenwd0elq]

Don't say you're GOING to delete Facebook; just DO IT.

I don't need to "delete" Facebook. I use Facebook for only one purpose; some of the blogs I follow use Facebook for their comments. I logged into Facebook a few days ago (I had to look up my password to do that....) and followed the "Download Everything from Facebook" procedure. Seriously, there's almost nothing there. An empty Profile, no games, no pictures, and the only messages were the ones I posted to the various blogs. Nothing that I wouldn't post openly.

Part of that is that I've never opened the Facebook apps on my phones or tablets.

If you're a big Facebook user, go back to email, or start a blog, or do something more constructive with your life.

Re:So stop talking about it!

[DontBeAMoran]

Don't say you're GOING to delete Facebook; just DO IT.

Dude, don't try to involve Nike into this.

Slashdot Poll Suggestion

[eric31415927]

How surprised are you that FB has been caught abusing your data?
A: Hasn't FB always been doing this?
B: Shit! My data is logged and is possibly available to ... (my boss, my spouse, the fuzz, ...)
C: Is Facebook going down? I mean I need my FB apps!!
D: Cowboy Neal read me the fine print, and I'm sure everything is on the up and up.

Re:Slashdot Poll Suggestion

[DontBeAMoran]

How surprised am I that Facebook has been caught abusing my data?

Completely astonished, since I've never had a Facebook account to begin with!

Re:Slashdot Poll Suggestion

[Bing Tsher E]

Your photograph is still tagged on several of your aunts' facebook pages, and your cousin has you listed. And your contact info was sucked into your invisible profile because your sister said 'okay' when they wanted her contact info.

Anti-social networking

[oneiros27]

I have an account.

I set it up after pestering from one of my classmates in grad school to bulk up numbers for a group for our program.

Years later, after they had opened it up, and it wasn't just for '.edu' addresses, one of my friends mentions it, and how great it is. So I casually mentioned that I had an account.

And the next time I see him, he insisted that I didn't, because he searched for me. I explained that's because I didn't put my last name on it (as there are less than a dozen in the US with it, and I had a stalker during undergrad), so he'd have to search by e-mail.

The next time I see him, he said he looked. So I reminded him that I got it back when you had to have a '.edu' address.

The next time, I see him he said he looked ... and I reminded him that no, I got fired from that university, and they forced me to change e-mail addresses (I pissed off management when I was a sysadmin, so they locked the account I had gotten 10 years before in undergrad, but had to give me a new one as I was still taking classes)

Again, he complains that it's not there. I asked him if he remembered that I said I got it during grad school, which was at a different school.

And that night, I get an email about a friend request. I logged in, friended his wife, his brother-in-law, and an ex (a mutual friend) ... and not him.

I logged in the next day to see that they had all been accepted.

I haven't logged in since.

I thought about deleting it when they changed their privacy policy a decade or so ago, but I suspected that I'd have to agree to the new policy to get in there far enough to delete the account ... so they have my first name, last initial, where I went to grad school, and potentially a few people that I know.

Re:Anti-social networking

[coastwalker]

What makes you think that they did not grab your ip address when you logged in - or more importantly your MAC address. They are still following you and using all your internet transactions that they touch.

Re:Anti-social networking

[flink]

Genuinely curious - what channel does a website have to get your MAC address? The MAC isn't preserved beyond the local ethernet segment, so it won't be in any of the packet envelopes the server receives, and as far as I know, the MAC isn't exposed via any JavaScript or browser API.

Holier than thou

[radarskiy]

Deleting your facebook account is easy for people with no friends.

Re:Holier than thou

[sloth jr]

It's just as easy for people with friends, and family. Seriously. I thought it was going to be a big deal, that I would somehow "miss" it. I don't.

Re:Holier than thou

[petes_PoV]

Deleting your facebook account is easy for people with no friends.

And if you think that the "friends" you have on FB are actually friends (who will help you when you need it, or go for a beer with you or invite you to their wedding) then you are sorely mistaken.

People collecting "friends" on Facebook is like dogs collecting fleas.

Re:Holier than thou

[radarskiy]

Every single contact I have on Facebook is someone I know in real life.

Re:Death Warrant

[DontBeAMoran]

I was about to post something similar...

"2 percent of Facebook employees are now looking for a new job."

Re:Work in Tech and Never Had Facebook to Begin Wi

[DontBeAMoran]

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/...
(2004)

I've tried

[burtosis]

I tried to delete Facebook, but I'm having trouble hacking in and remote wiping the whole deal. Any ideas?

Re:I've tried

[Anonymous Coward]

Capture one of their admins first. That is the trick. Also, it's critical that you find all of their backups and destroy them too, or else in a few hours they'll just have the site online again.

Re:I've tried

[thegarbz]

Wait remotely wiping? I don't understand. I thought we were just deleting the app! I even logged in to Facebook this morning to post about how I just #deletefacebooked

Re:I've tried

[Anonymous Coward]

I think Hillary has a cloth she wipes servers with. Maybe you could borrow it from her?

Re:I've tried

[WallyL]

Have you tried social engineering?

Re:Death Warrant

[K. S. Kyosuke]

Which is sad, because only Facebook employees can actually delete Facebook. Anyone else can only stop using it.

Block HIM...

[irving47]

I guess a symbolic gesture, if you need or want to keep using FB, would be to Block Mark Zuckerberg... If enough people do it, it might get noticed.

Re:Block HIM...

[Narcocide]

Pointless, but also hilarious.

Opt out of equifax

[DCFusor]

and experian while you're at it.
You'll have about the same success. You think they'll just forget about you? I never had a FB account...that I can log into, that is. Doesn't mean much about what they've got on ya. Heck, they even put together adopted kids with parents when one or both don't have accounts, and some friend noticed....and outed some sex workers as having two accounts, one under a pseudonym. I laugh at puny efforts in the face of that.

Silicon Valley hates Trump

[Anonymous Coward]

They didn't think it would help Trump get elected in 2016, unlike in 2012, where it helped out Obama. Deleting Facebook is about hating Trump.

What do I win...

[SirAstral]

If I never signed up to join facebook at all?

Now I can't join the party and delete my account in a fit of revenge!!!

Re:What do I win...

[freeze128]

Then you get to hang out in the "smug" room with the rest of us...

People are whores

[Anonymous Coward]

People hate to see domestic jobs being outsourced overseas, but they still do business with companies that do just that.
People hate climate change, but they still buy fossil-fuel cars.
People hate Facebook, but they still come up with a thousand excuses to still use it.

Why ? Because in every case, they peronnaly profit from it.

People are whores.

No decision

[Roger W Moore]

31% are ready to do it. But that 31% hasn't yet. What is holding them back?

Possibly the fact that they haven't actually decided to do it but as still thinking about it? Deciding to do something might not be the same as doing it but it does mean that you are definitely going to do it. If not then you have not really decided anything and are still considering your options.

Why is this even news?

[taustin]

And advertising company - and that's what Facebook is - makes money from selling ads, and makes more money from selling demographic information to its advertisers. And grass is green, the sky is blue and water is wet.

Anybody who is in any way surprised by Facebook doing exactly what they were obviously created to do is a moron.

Re:Why is this even news?

[AHuxley]

Follow the US party politics. Social media was all cool and trendy when it helped and supported one side of US politics.
Another party won a US election by having a winning politician and the losing side could not accept their own party was to blame.
So they had a story about Russian.
Now a story about social media and privacy.
That effort could have gone into policy and a new look to the party.
The effort is now in showing how demographic information lost an election. All the fault of social media. Not the political party.
-

Re:Why is this even news?

[coastwalker]

All the parties are funded by billionaires and corporations. I am surprised you can tell the difference between them. All the parties are going to be using new social media weapons to persuade you to vote for them. The difference is that these weapons are the same psy-ops that are used by a military to defeat a country. Good luck with civilization if you don't try and regulate the use of these weapons.

Re:Why is this even news?

[eaglesrule]

That's right, the parties are funded by billionaires and corporations, and right now Facebook is being sent a very strong message to get with the program. Do a better job supporting approved candidates and undermine all others, or else.

Words, not actions.

[petes_PoV]

.... some group said they will delete Facebook

And let's see how many actually do!

That is all the matters: not what people say (they often will say what they think the surveyor wants to hear), but whether they follow through. And I doubt that many actually will.

Not just hard, impossible!

[Roger W Moore]

It's just as easy for people with friends, and family.

No, it really isn't. In fact, I can honestly say it's not only hard but actually impossible for me to delete my Facebook account since I have no idea how to delete something that doesn't exist. My family and most, if not all, my friends will have the same problem.

Re:Not just hard, impossible!

[radarskiy]

Don't worry, Facebook has an account to keep track of your data anyway.

Will Microsoft employees delete Windows 7/10?

[ayesnymous]

That telemetry is just as bad or worse than anything Facebook does.

Re:Will Microsoft employees delete Windows 7/10?

[snookiex]

Not to mention Google employees. If Facebook is a creepy data-hoarding company, Google is worse and virtually ubiquitous. The whole summary is a joke in itself.

100%

[Plumpaquatsch]

100% of Apple employees don*t give out personal information like that.

Worse than pointless

[SuperKendall]

This movement to delete Facebook is virtue signaling at its worst I fear.

It's not hurting Facebook any, they will continue to collect data about you from your browsing and through others. That data will still go to advertisers, only now you have zero control over what is stored, whereas if you have a Facebook account you can at least review and modify some of what it thinks about you.

It also cuts you off from people that may follow you on Facebook, that do not want to leave.

If you don't want to feed the beast, fine, just don't post on Facebook or read the timeline, just read any direct mentions or messages. But to think you are doing anything by deleting an account is just delusional.

Google

[stooo]

Next thing : Delete Google.

Hypocrisy

[barcarolle]

The main takeaway from this story is that a whole lot of people are interested in no longer using Facebook, but only because of a (you guessed it) social media campaign on another platform started by a colossal jackass who created another horrible social media platform who made a gobsmacking pile of money selling it to (you guessed it) Facebook. I honestly can't tell who's more contemptible: Facebook, or the atrocious monsters who are its' users.

If 1/3 of "tech workers" delete FB

[Vinegar Joe]

That'll cut out more than 2/3s of all the ignorant left-wing posts. So where's the downside?

Delete Google

[mrbill1234]

Google employees watn to delete Facebook? LOL! Delete Google! I've been weaning myself off it for a while now. Duck Duck Go for me - and use Google sparingly when necessary (no logins, Ghostery, delete cookies). Ok, it won't make me invisible to them - but seriously - fuck Google.

Say vs Do

[Daralantan]

I wonder how many of these people constantly saying they are ready to delete facebook actually WILL delete it... vs how many are just saying it in slacktivism or because it makes them think they look good/better somehow.

Re:Dear tin-foil hatter nutjub

[TheRaven64]

The major point of OP's post was that joining FB can be, a rational trade-off between privacy and utility . Surprise? Your personal information is the service cost and obviously FB (a for-profit company) needs to monetise that information. Hello?

There are two problems with this. The first is that it assumes information symmetry. People are starting to become aware of the information that Facebook collects, but far fewer have an idea how much information Facebook infers. There's a lot of information that can be gleaned from combining seemingly unrelated data sets, which is why everyone in the security community is sceptical of claims that data sets can be anonymised: it's easy to do in isolation, but there's a huge body of research combining two or more anonymised data sets and deanonymising both. As such, the cost is not apparent to most people.

The second problem is that people are not just selling their own information. A big part of the Cambridge Analytica scandal is that they were able to create profiles of orders of magnitude more people than participated in their survey, by cross-referencing information. If a person doesn't have a Facebook account, but has 10 friends who all do, share their contact list, and tag that person in photos, then there's nothing that they can do about it.

will/would/maybe

[LQ]

X% said they would delete. One day, maybe, if they get around to it, if they have the time. What % have deleted?

Linked in?

[stabiesoft]

Has anyone deleted linkedin? I am considering it as I can't seem to find any value in it and they keep updating their TOS, which they just did again.

The Circle...

[dark.nebulae]

What I want to know is whether Zuckerberg and all of the rest of the FB execs have Facebook on their phones.

Akin to The Circle, while maybe not a box office smash, points out how the social network company execs love to have more people join and use their platforms, that often times they know so much about what is going on with the apps and the data that they choose not to participate themselves.

Being a cynic, however, seeing an active exec on the platform, I would likely assume they had two (or more) devices, one to give the impression they were fully behind the platform and the others to use when they powered down the infected device.

Simple, I've never installed it

[SuseLover]

Or logged onto the site. Ever. What's it even good for? I stay in contact with everyone I need to via other methods and NO employer has ever even mentioned FB to me.

50% of microsoft employees to delete Facebook

[NikeHerc]

50 percent of Microsoft employees said they will delete Facebook

100% of people with common sense will delete facebook. The rest of you deserve anything that happens.

Thoughts and Prayers to that bold 2%

[Dust038]

-2 percent of Facebook employees said they would delete Facebook. I think we all know how this will end for them. I'm only doing the politically correct thing and sending Thoughts and Prayers.

a criticism of methodology

[morethanapapercert]

I read the blog entry that TFS points to and noticed an odd omission, namely the respondents were not asked if they even have a Facebook page in the first place. Which means that someone who was privacy aware enough to not have a Facebook page or had already deleted theirs years ago when the first scandals came out (such as myself) could only chose "no" or not respond at all. I'd be really interested to see the numbers of tech savvy users who forgo Facebook altogether or abandoned it long ago. It also doesn't say what percentage of people the question was posed to chose not to respond at all.

I didn't like Facebook much even before the first scandals years ago, mainly because the social interaction between friends and family seemed so...high school in nature. Juvenile and puerile comments, unnecessary drama and annoying flash games were not something I was interested in participating in. I kept a profile only because it let me keep in touch with a few family members who had no other social media presence. After the Facebook Beacon scandal, I decided that keeping in touch with those people wasn't worth it. I carefully crafted a short message explaining my privacy concerns and reasons for deleting my profile and sent them to everyone I thought merited notice. Ironically, that set off a flame-fest where I got accused of spamming people. (ironic because most of the most vocal complainers were folks who had constantly filled my box with Farmville, Mafiawars and some Family Tree application spam...)

Geniuses

[slashmydots]

For the last 7 years I've used a fake name, uploaded 0 pics of me, disabled tagging, and marked all my posts as private by default. Oh look, it's the best and brightest here to tell us they want to delete Facebook!

The other two-thirds

[WillAffleckUW]

Had no idea how bad FB was.

Already done. Amazed at how much time I got back.

[xeno]

Already done. 2.5+ years ago.
Amazed at how much time I got back.
Wish I'd done it sooner.
And no, I don't miss much. People from high school I don't want to talk to. Marketing from a hundred places I did casual businesses. Relatives I wish were more contained. Political activism that doesn't have a defined goal or success condition. General agitation and angst. I can't imagine my stress level if I was still mired in that shitshow.

There is no Delete Facebook

[scdeimos]

I think the #DeleteFacebook movement is hilarious. Clicking the Delete button in Facebook achieves absolutely nothing.

Facebook already has your data and clicking the Delete Account button doesn't do anything other than remove you from a few public lists. I know this because I "deleted" my account back in 2010. Over the years I received several warning emails from Facebook that someone had been trying to login to my account and that I should login to change my password. I logged in with my old credentials recently and everything was still there as it was.

#DeleteFacebook is a typical modern knee-jerk reaction that makes you feel good at the time but doesn't achieve anything worth a damn.

well go ahead, collect my middle finger

[epine]

There's really no way around it, unless you're a total social recluse they probably have some info on you.

Yeah, and they also have metadata indicating that 100% of what they've collected on me came from tertiary sources (after they've ignored me not having an account, hardly anyone in my family having an account, and my browser having every privacy extension known to man).

Doesn't smell a whole lot like consent, does it? Not even by the imagined 18-year-old male "no means maybe, and maybe means yes" standard of consent.

I don't block all this shit to prevent tracking. Good grief, I read The Puzzle Palace back in 1982 while you could still smell the ink drying and like they say in cryptography (attacks only get better), in practical terms, surveillance only ever collects more. This was obvious in the eighties already.

I block primary and secondary collection strategies so that the commercial parties collecting this information about me can't for a moment pretend I was nodding my head while they did it.

Yeah, I know you're doing it, by increasingly more strenuous methods, and I'm not on board.

Blocking primary and secondary collection is fundamentally a speech act.

Zuckerberg apologist: "Blah, blah, blah none of the users seem to mind."

Me: "Oh, yeah? 70% of everything you collected about me is based on user-agent fingerprinting my web activities based on a browser extension list top-heavy in surveillance blockers. I mind a lot, and your collected dossier on me basically screams that message."

The exception would be that Facebook has painstakingly whitewashed their own metadata, in a bizarrely ironic act of plausible-denial QED.

"Of course we don't have your middle finger on file, and we know that for certain because we've got this sophisticated, hand-crafted algorithm to precisely erase any trace of a collection-M.O. middle finger."

So now look at which side has No Way Out .

Really? Who will be left running the world?

[FreedomFirstThenPeac]

WHEREAS: Winning elections takes 51% of the submitted votes

WHEREAS: Only a tight group of wingnuts on either side have disproportionate power because elections are won at the margins, nobody cares about the 90% in the middle.

WHEREAS: Social media will be used to motivate those 10% who really matter, first to enrage them, then to engage them.

THEREFORE: If ALL the tech workers run away, then who owns the field?

As a data miner, I found the human side of this story as explained in Wired, January 2018 worth having a paper copy for, just so I can roll it up and use it to beat some sense into my politicians.

With all the arguments in mind...

[Doctrinsograce]

...I'm thinking it might be a good thing from which to withdraw.

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