After recent load uproar and criticism about the new Facebook privacy settings the 400-million person online social network says it will simplify its privacy settings soon.
Everybody has had something to say about Facebook. Some have already deleted their accounts; some have threatened to leave the site. Has anybody actually looked at the privacy settings or are we just regurgitating everything we see now? According to a New York Times chart, the site's privacy policy is longer than the U.S. Constitution. Users must navigate through 170 specific options. Keep in mind even you spend lot of time to change your settings "Friends" or "Friends of Friends", anyone that knows your Facebook URL (like people you removed from your friends list) will still be able to see the personal info that Facebook is now forcing us to make public.
The only way to prevent that is to place those people on your block list. There is now no way to stay in the search directory without having your friends list, profile pic, groups, pages and gender/location revealed.
Let me show you clearly Facebook Account Deactivation since this is the only option offered in their User Interface. Users can deactivate their Facebook account from the user interface without too much trouble. But be careful, Read the fine print!
Facebook says "If you'd like to come back to Facebook anytime after you've deactivated your account, you can reactivate your account by logging in with your email and password. Your profile will be restored in its entirety (friends, photos, interests, etc.). Remember that you will need to have access to the login email address on the account in order to reactivate it". Alright! so its clear that my account is still there....so now look for permanent deletion...Deep in the belly of the Facebook help center you can find the URL to permanently delete your Facebook account. First they suggested you to deactivate your account instead of permanent deletion. Even if you are determine to delete it permanently it says "If you do not think you will use Facebook again and would like your account deleted, please keep in mind that you will not be able to reactivate your account or retrieve any of the content or information you have added."
Once you start permanently deleting your profile, you have to take 5-6 steps to do your job and facebook will send you the confirmation message -"Your account has been deactivated from the site and will be permanently deleted within 14 days. If you log into account within the next 14 days, your account will be reactivate and you will have the option to cancel your request." Wow! That means my account is still there after spending so much time for permanent deletion. One of my friends deleted her profile and she got this 14 days grace period. During those 14 days she got more then average requests/newsletters from facebook in her mail as compared to earlier. However, her account got deleted after 2 weeks. She verified this by trying to log in with original email/password and it refused to let her login. After few weeks, she thought why not test if she could register with same email and other information again. She tried and it allowed her to create a new profile which contained same information as previous one.
The conclusion is, they allow you to register using same email and information.
Anyway, I think it's pretty obvious by now Facebook doesn't really care about you personally, they just don't want to lose any of YOUR data from their service. Not your employment data, school history, friends, network, photos, your tagged face etc. which they managed to collect from you over the year in their social websites
Now the question is:-How safe are you with revealing personal information in social networking sites? How secure do you think it is to have your name, school name, city, state, or telephone number on your social network site?
For some, social network is waste of time and it's a place located on the Internet that generates a huge quantity of un useful and duplicated content and has a good chance to affect people's relationships with others. For others social networking sites have become the hottest "place" to hang. You might be at work, at home or at school, but these sites allow you to meet and catch up with old friends, find new people, and, of course, put yourself out there.
Whatever is your view but one thing is clear that there is a need for users of social media to be cautious before posting personal details online. Bits and pieces of information collected here can be joined together by fraudsters to steal their identity or to commit fraud.
Common sense dictates that there are at least 6 things you should never share publicly, your social security number, your home address, your home/private phone number, you passwords and PIN's, and your birth date.
Whatever the reasons, it's obvious some no longer trust the internet giant as I seem to keep hearing the same questions over and over again: on the other hand I think if used responsibly, services like Facebook have their place.
Please don't hesitate to share your views.
Maryam Naqvi
(Journalist and Freelance Writer)
This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.
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