Reply With Quote
No.
By Lauren La Rose, The Canadian Press ADVERTISEMENT
TORONTO - Joseph Dee is preparing to hit the delete key on his Facebook account. And if they stick to their pledge, thousands of others will be joining him Monday in "defriending" the social networking site.
Dee, a web technologist, is one-half of the Toronto duo behind QuitFacebookDay.com.
Dee and Matthew Milan launched the site May 12 to announce their plans to bid adieu to Facebook, expressing concerns over how the popular site manages the personal data of its more than 400 million users, which include 15 million in Canada.
QuitFacebookDay.com provides an open forum for others to share their views, as well as allowing those who are inclined to submit their pledge to "commit to quit."
As of early Sunday, more than 24,000 had signed on committing to quit Facebook.
Dee said while privacy is a commonly discussed theme, the issue for both him and Milan regarding Facebook runs deeper.
"It's more than just the issue of how they're handling people's personal information. It's about the approach that they take to the experience," Dee said. "It's one thing to give people the option to set their privacy, but how easy is that to do? And how much are they really concerned about people having ownership over that?"
"I don't get the feeling that that's really their intent, so it's an issue of trust as much as it is an issue of privacy for me."
Facebook has been in the hot seat over site privacy. Complaints have emerged over default privacy settings that were revealing more information than some users realized.
The Associated Press reported that a security glitch exposed some users' private conversations, and another revealed the information of users to advertisers in a way that they could be identified — going against Facebook's terms of service.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced last week amendments to the privacy settings. The changes include a single-click option allowing users to determine with whom they would share their information, as well as allowing users to stop third-party applications from accessing their personal data. Less private information is also now visible on user profiles by default.
The office of Canada's privacy commissioner, which investigated Facebook's privacy policies in 2009, says while the latest changes are positive, they may not be enough to conform with Canadian law.
In a statement emailed to The Canadian Press, Facebook said the privacy and security of user information is of "paramount importance to us."
The statement went on to highlight some of the changes made to address concerns, pointing to the redesign of the privacy settings page, as well as the single privacy control for all content and a way to opt out of the Facebook platform.
"We hope these changes address the concerns that people raised, but we encourage users to continue to send us their feedback," the statement reads, including a link to Facebook's privacy feedback page:http://www.facebook.com/help/contact...tings_feedback.
"We also hope that people who had previously committed to quitting Facebook choose to spend the day going through their new privacy controls instead."
Dee said he thinks the ability to stop the dissemination of user information to third parties is a good step. But overall, he sees the privacy changes as more reactive and a PR move than anything else.
"I don't think that at the core Facebook is really concerned about what I feel as a user. I think they're looking at it more from a business sense, and that's their right to do that," he said.
"They're a corporation and they own their network and they're setting the rules on their network. My option is whether or not I want to partake in that, and that's why I'm moving away from it."
Dee said he's been "a little bit overwhelmed" by how much attention the site has received. However, he doubts either he or Milan will continue with it once Quit Facebook Day is over.
"I think this was more our own sort of statement and it seems to have turned into a story and a bigger thing, but I don't think we're looking to lead a movement or be sort of the spokesmen for people quitting Facebook."
Wendy Cukier, associate dean of the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University in Toronto, said Facebook should be concerned that it has some dissatisfied users, in addition to the privacy commissioner suggesting there are problems. However, at this stage, she wouldn't conclude there's going to be a mass exodus from the site.
"I think what we're seeing now is what happens with virtually all technologies," said Cukier, a professor of information technology management and communications and culture.
"After the period of sort of inflated expectations and hype, people start looking more critically at what the costs really are, what the limitations really are, what it really can do, really can't do, what the unintended consequences are, etc., and start to bring their expectations more in line with the reality."
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/1...t_facebook_day
No.
The south park episode actually used this website: http://suicidemachine.org/
canada just got a lot cooler
tl;dr
Never had a Facebook page, nor do I care to have one. Just don't see the point. I deleted my Myspace page a while back so yeah.
I'm one of the few people who doesn't have a FaceBook or Myspace. I just don't find social networking online very interesting. It would probably be useful for keeping in touch with old people from high school/college but its not really what I'm looking for... On another note, I also stopped carrying a cellphone and don't watch regular tv anymore. I usually use other methods for communication, get my news online, and watch tv shows on Youtube or Hulu.
Maybe if people have private information that they don't want other people to get, they shouldn't be posting it on the internet.
Word!!
Plus, the Canadians ....
I hate social networking too. So much so that I started AntiFacebook.com http://antifacebook.com
It's an online community for people who don't belong to social networking sites. It's a great place to meet and talk with other like-minded people who find the social networking trend to be a wasteful and meaningless exercise in vanity.
AntiFacebook.com is part of a network of sites (including MySpaceSux.com, EffTwitter.com and UnLinkedIn.org) dedicated to giving the non-social networking community a place to belong and express their aversion to these online sites.
If you're on AntiFB, friend me up at antifacebook.com/spurminator and be sure to check out my pics from our trip to Cabo. Also be on the lookout for my iPhone app, WordsWithMyself (includes multi-player option).
Last edited by Spurminator; 06-01-2010 at 10:39 AM.
I have a Facebook and it is waaaay overrated. It's just a place to waste time and have a little chitchat. I don't keep any personal info on it except my hometown.
So antifacebook is just another social network
I like Facebook, but I'm only on it at MOST 10 minutes a day. It's cool to drop a note off to someone and see pics that other people posted of the crazy weekend you just had tubing down a river. It's a lot simpler and more convenient for me to just throw the pictures up on FB rather than emailing them to everyone.
That and the FB chat is about all I use it for anymore. I'm not exactly enthralled about their privacy policy, but on the other hand it really doesn't bother me. I don't put sensitive info or pictures on Facebook.
As usual, good sense carries the day for anyone smart enough to use it.
No no no, it's an online social community. Think SpursTalk, but with more emphasis on individual profile pages. Also bands and stuff.
Like this place?
Quitting Facebook over privacy is like moving out of your house because you can't be bothered to lock the door.
Exactly! Even with the same people!Like this place?
Exactly! Even with the same people!
Still sounds like Facebook
It doesn't exist.Still sounds like Facebook
Do you really think I was going to believe Spurminator ?It doesn't exist.
Are you on Facebook?Do you really think I was going to believe Spurminator ?
YesAre you on Facebook?
But I dont go there very often
Quit Facebook Day doesn't go viral
Module body
Mon May 31, 2:51 PM
By Michael Oliveira, The Canadian Press
ADVERTISEMENT
TORONTO - "Quit Facebook" was a trending topic on Twitter on Monday as tens of thousands of users claimed they were ready to abandon the popular social networking site over privacy concerns.
But plenty more of the site's more than 400 million users aren't going anywhere, even if they acknowledge the concerns being raised by the two Toronto men behind Quit Facebook Day.
Most of the "Quit Facebook" chatter on Twitter was about how users had no intention of participating in the campaign.
"It's Quit Facebook Day," tweeted the user ExpertParalegal. "Right. I'm not quitting coffee either."
"It might be 'Quit Facebook Day' but there's no way i'm quitting," wrote DanNSimms, "especially as I like seeing how fat everyone's got since they left school."
Co-creator Matthew Milan said he never expected the idea would go viral and put a dent in Facebook's membership numbers. But he feels the process was a success, since it got people talking about the site's privacy policies and the consequences of putting personal info online.
"I'm not really interested in getting people to quit every online service out there — I'm actually a very heavy consumer of social media myself — and I certainly don't think people should be hiding away in caves and not engaging," he said in an interview Monday, as the number of users pledging to opt-out of Facebook surpassed 30,000.
"I just think they should be asking for what they feel is fair and respectable from organizations they give their data to."
Among those who signed off for good was Johnny Hockin, a host and segment producer for MTV Canada. Or so he thought.
It turns out he made a common mistake and actually deactivated his account rather than deleting it. While the deactivate option is relatively easy to find in the account settings section, truly deleting an account is a bit trickier. The link to permanently remove an account from Facebook can be found in the help section of the site.
After realizing he only deactivated his account, Hockin said he would keep his Facebook profile in limbo for now, in case he changes his mind about going offline.
But he said it wasn't a rash decision to quit Facebook, and he'd been considering it for months.
"I've been getting more and more annoyed at Facebook and the fact that this event was here sort of pushed me over the edge, because I do support their cause," he said.
"I think it's probably pretty niche still but there is a positive response I've heard to the idea of quitting. I think some people have had enough of that particular social network — although others are still very happy with it."
As for Milan, he happily deleted his account as planned and said he'll miss little about Facebook.
"I didn't feel any remorse, or regret, or 'Oh my gosh, I have to go back and check it,'" he said.
"I don't feel any pull to go back personally, but I realize that's not going to be what it's like for a lot of people."
Facebook did not immediately respond to calls for comment on how many users had actually quit.
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