8 MILLION users is nothing to Facebook

Yes… 2% of 400 Million users is 8 MILLION users.

This was apparently the number of users that deleted their accounts over the lack of trust issues, privacy issues, and other security related issues on Facebook … 2% of Facebook users.

Apparently, Facebook feels 8 Million is nothing…

I am sure the users that deleted their accounts didn’t feel like they accomplished nothing.

If nothing else, they proved that Facebook wouldn’t care about 8 MILLION users being concerned about dangerous security/privacy/trust related issues at Facebook.

That should be a real wake up call to the remaining Facebook users. Your account means less than nothing to Facebook…

Facebook – An admirable start but not nearly enough

Facebook Adds Two Privacy Tools – InformationWorld:

Both tools have to do with stopping unknown devices from logging in to a user’s Facebook account.

Definitely a first step, and an important one to be sure, especially since many hacks apparently were coming from mobile devices — but this is not nearly enough.

This does not even begin to address the privacy related issues brought on by changing the default from privacy by default to public by default which is why Facebook won over from MySpace in the first place.

My account will remain deactivated for the time being.

Facebook account deactivated today

Well, today is the day.

As much as I love Facebook, and enjoy the ability to keep in contact with family and friends easily, I have deactivated my account today in protest of their stance on privacy and the apparent lack of concern for their users by changing to the opposite stance on user privacy. It has been one step, after another over the last year or so. Desensitizing users to the changes they have made by doing it slowly.

Facebook sees dollar signs where we users are concerned. They have deluded themselves into thinking that with all the family and/friends connectios, and simplicity of keeping in contact with our Facebook friends, that we won’t be able to stop, that we are now hooked…”we have you now” in Darth Vader’s voice.

Is it true?

Not in my case at least. I let my friends and family know what I was doing. They support and understand. Will any of them do the same thing? I hope so…

We need to stand together to disallow Facebook a pass on the changes from supposed concern for users and user’s security and privacy to what it is today … where they are saying we don’t care about privacy by default. That we only see the connections we can make to other sites?!?! Facebook is saying proudly that they are the next MySpace … “now we control all these users and connections, and you as users have no privacy. Privacy is dead.”

Can we prove them wrong?

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Edit: added some links to help make your decision:

With Facebook’s security and privacy standards under fire from all sides, suffice it to say that this is not a good time for one of the company’s investors to fall for a Facebook phishing scam. (Facebook phishing scam snares company board member – CNET – May 10, 2010 8:42 AM PDT )

Comparing Facebook’s latest product modifications to deadly natural disasters is probably a little bit inappropriate, but the psychological reaction doesn’t seem all that different. The social network modified its policies for handling user data once again as part of its F8 conference and release of the Open Graph API, and ever since it became clear that more information is being set as public by default and more is being shared with third parties, concerned Facebook users have been on jittery alert, perhaps prone to overreaction, concerned that something even bigger may be about to change. (Understanding Facebook’s privacy aftershocks – CNET May 6, 2010 3:51 PM PDT)

Criticism of Facebook (Wikipedia.com)

Four senators are adding their voices to criticism that Facebook Inc. doesn’t do enough to give its 400 million users easier ways to protect their privacy online. (Senators turn up the heat on Facebook privacy issues – SFGATE.com – April 28, 2010)

More links on my blog post, Bye, Bye, Facebook, Bye, Bye… AND ALL OVER THE WEB! Just do a search on facebook privacy issues on any search engine and read it and weep.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Happy Mother’s Day to all my family members and friends who are moms.

Irritates me that unless Facebook doesn’t honor their original commitment to their members…and the reason for their growth in the first place, I will not be able to wish them all a Happy Mother’s Day there personally like I ws able to do previously. 😦

Wake up and smell what you are shoveling Facebook!

After today, I am deactivated until they wake up, or gone entirely if Facebook doesn’t wake up.

Bye, Bye, Facebook, Bye, Bye…

***NOTICE***

BYE, BYE, FACEBOOK, BYE, BYE

This notice is to my friends and family on Facebook

After this weekend (waiting only to give friends and family a chance to know what happened), I will be deactivating my Facebook account, and may ultimately be deleting it in the very near future if A LOT OF THINGS don’t change in the way that Facebook is ‘doing business.’

Facebook has a lot of gall to say Facebook users are not unhappy with their recent changes to Facebook privacy policy changes. I know many who are VERY unhappy with these changes, IF they even realize the changes being made.

To help folks realize what changes are being made, here are some links to do your own research:

Six Things You Need to Know About Facebook Connections (EFF)

Facebook security flaw makes private chats public (Network World)

Consumer groups hammer Facebook privacy violations in federal complaint (Macworld UK) – Facebook privacy violations stemming from recent feature changes

More EFF links over the last week or two on Facebook:

Facebook’s Eroding Privacy Policy: A Timeline

A Handy Facebook-to-English Translator

How to Opt Out of Facebook’s Instant Personalization

If you plan on maintaining your Facebook Account, you also might like to read the following article at ZDNet Blogs:

Contemplating FaceBook Hara-Kiri

ewww, a Facebook threat…

Thought it was funny when I went to Facebook today and got this pop up asking me to link to a page for my hometown. I said, handle it individually and unclicked the page for my hometown. and I got this:

You are about to remove this information.

If you don’t link to any Pages, the following sections on your profile will be empty:
* Work and Education
* Current City
* Hometown
* Likes and Interests

Like I really care about that. I didn’t fill them out anyway.

I posted that on my Facebook page too.

Then I posted a comment on the Facebook poting:

However, if they keep this crap up, I will just disable my account again and they won’t be able to force those stupid ads on me anymore.

Buttheads…

As my Jim says, “The only winning move is not to play” and he doesn’t. And I play very little, and only because of my family and friends….some of which are so into the stupid gaming and apps crap which is why I have made my profile so private in the first place and don’t use anything but Facebook apps, no third party apps at all.

Facebook is something nice enough, but I can still be in contact with friends and family without them and it looks like that will be happening soon, very soon if my guess is right.

Why it is too late to regulate Facebook (scobleizer.com)

Read it and weep.