How To delete Facebook Account.

Grateful Dread · 27-03-2018 01:55PM

Hurrache wrote: »

This is the thing, while there's no denying there's been abuse of data, people have given Facebook voluntarily all this access.

All over the place now are articles from 'opinionators' aghast about what data is there on them, and what apps have access to it. There's been some people giving out that there's 10s, if not hundreds, of apps with access that are logged in with Facebook. Yes, because you explicitly gave them permission to do so.

Google is next. Matt Cooper closed his Facebook account on air last week and was shocked yesterday with what Google has on you, especially location history. Dunno why any of this comes as a surprise to him.

Here's the thing with Facebook - they literally sell you information to anyone willing to pay for it.

Google: Sell ad space so advertisers can advertise to male, age 27, Ireland, has expressed an interest in Nike running gear.

In Google's case, the advertisers don't know you explicitly. Google's revenue is based on securing your information. Only they know who you are.

So they're not quite as bad as FB, but they have been caught doing some shady things. For example, Google Maps cars pulling data from WIFI networks from people's homes.

Franz Von Peppercorn · 27-03-2018 01:59PM

I’m signing up to FB as a show of solidarity with Mark.

MOH · 27-03-2018 01:59PM

Permabear wrote: »

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I believe that's the current button, or at least a recent one. I'm fairly sure when I installed the app a few years ago and it wanted my contact details, there was no mention of continuously uploading call and text history.

Hurrache wrote: »

This is the thing, while there's no denying there's been abuse of data, people have given Facebook voluntarily all this access.

All over the place now are articles from 'opinionators' aghast about what data is there on them, and what apps have access to it. There's been some people giving out that there's 10s, if not hundreds, of apps with access that are logged in with Facebook. Yes, because you explicitly gave them permission to do so.

Have you even read the thread, let alone the news?
Facebook have been collecting far more data than people gave them permission to, and sharing that with third parties that people never agreed to.

They've also been collecting via the Android app contact details of people who never even had a Facebook account or used Facebook in any way.

27-03-2018 02:03PM

I fully expect to see a massive drop off in facebook and google's user bases..

Permabear · 27-03-2018 02:15PM

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Permabear · 27-03-2018 02:40PM

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Skedaddle · 27-03-2018 02:41PM

Vex Willems wrote: »

I've seen other people mention this, so I downloaded my data too to see what evil facebook had on me but found nothing unexpected, no call logs or anything not associated with Facebook.

It seems to vary depending on how deep access your app has to your phone.

andekwarhola · 27-03-2018 03:16PM

Don't forget the integral step involving telling all and sundry about it despite them not giving a fcuk.

andekwarhola · 27-03-2018 03:19PM

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I fully expect to see a massive drop off in facebook and google's user bases..

If it transpires, something similar will take their place.

People love social media and detest paying for things.

kunst nugget · 27-03-2018 03:27PM

Bebo's warming up on the sidelines.

ELM327 · 27-03-2018 03:27PM

kunst nugget wrote: »

Bebo's warming up on the sidelines.

BEBO STUNNAHS XoXO

Skedaddle · 27-03-2018 04:28PM

Facebook could easily go to the wall in the next few years. The one thing about the internet world is thing change fast and there'll be someone else along to take Facebook's place, perhaps offering more iron clad guarantees of data protection to lure people over.

Wibbs · 27-03-2018 04:41PM

Permabear wrote: »

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+1. I avoid them as much as possible. It requires some "work" so few do that.

This is surveillance capitalism at its finest. And it will continue until people stop blindly adopting the latest devices and clicking "I Agree" on everything before them, and actually start thinking about the choices that they are making.

QFT. Again good luck with that. Most people are either unaware or simply don't care because "sure I've nothing to worry about" so are happy to hand over their privacy to non elected entities without even realising how far this will go and will impact their lives down the line.

Skedaddle wrote: »

Facebook could easily go to the wall in the next few years. The one thing about the internet world is thing change fast and there'll be someone else along to take Facebook's place, perhaps offering more iron clad guarantees of data protection to lure people over.

Maybe, but I think that was much more the case in the past, when more people on the interwebs were "nerds" who a) understood the tech and environment more and b) were much more open to trying new stuff. Most people abhor change, especially if it takes any effort. PLus if a new Arsebook came along and started to hit Zuckerberg's share Facebook will just give the owners of the company an offer they can't refuse along the lines of here's a billion dollars, we'll buy your company. In the vanishingly rare event where said owners told them to feck off, they'll just swamp them with competition(or try and tie them up in court for spurious copyright issues) anyway. The market is great, but one disadvantage is sooner or later one or maybe two companies take over their sector and make it incredibly difficult for anyone new to come along.

Permabear · 27-03-2018 06:52PM

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joe40 · 27-03-2018 07:11PM

I absolutely care about privacy, but while the technology is available to track our every move online, and our everyday lives, from shopping, travel, banking, socialising etc are increasingly carried out online.
I think it is an extremely unfortunate reality of modern living that privacy cannot be assured. Even if you have all the privacy settings and international laws in place I would still assume my privacy is compromised.
I'm not for one minute saying this is ok or should be acceptable however I think it is a reality.

minikin · 27-03-2018 07:28PM

Anyone see that great new Facebook group ‘range extended electric vehicles Ireland’ - they’re looking for someone to manage the page (paid position with a top spec i3 included), must be a long term Facebook user... no new accounts need apply.

Hurrache · 27-03-2018 10:04PM

Grateful Dread wrote: »

Google: Sell ad space so advertisers can advertise to male, age 27,

How do they know your age? People tell them.

Permabear · 28-03-2018 09:57AM

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Skedaddle · 28-03-2018 01:23PM

If you don't want to expose your data, there are a few other strategies too:

1. Delete Facebook Apps from your phone / tablet.
2. Do not use it from the same browser as your general purpose browser. I do the same with Gmail, and actually run it in Chrome while browsing in Firefox or Safari.
3. Use your social media accounts like Facebook on the mobile web through a 2nd browser on your phone too.

Mozilla (Firefox) has also just launched a 'facebook container' to protect your privacy from the data hungry snoopy monster.

https://blog.mozilla.org/firefox/facebook-container-extension/

Also, I would strongly suggest that you clean up your Facebook as follows:

1. Go online on a PC/Mac and remove all Facebook apps and services using it as a log in, particularly ones you don't need / don't trust.
2. Delete all your uploaded contacts : https://www.facebook.com/help/147699975301738?helpref=faq_content (explains how)

and then use it with extreme caution afterwards.

It's hard enough to completely delete Facebook in the sense that it's a bit like an online contacts book, but you can remove it from your online social life quite easily by just taking some pretty simple security steps to ensure it's not interacting with your main browsers or pulling data unnecessarily from your mobile phone.

Also, it actually works quite well via mobile browsers these days. The app is slightly slicker, but it's not that big a deal to lose it.

Also, if you think Facebook's snoopy, you should see what Google is pulling with access to your whole digital life, particularly if you're using a broad range of Google services on an Android phone.

Even if you're on iOS, be careful what you're granting access to e.g. Google Gboard, if you grant it full access in iOS, can potentially key log everything you type.

All I would say is that while these services are extremely handy, losing your privacy online is something that you lose forever. Getting your privacy back is far more difficult, as once your data's out there, it's out there for good.

Unfortunately, it looks like we are going to all have to develop strategies for ensuring we're not being turned into nothing but a source of marketing data.

I would also suggest saving your passwords in a password manager and regularly flushing your cookies and browser caches. That prevents cookies and persistent cookies from hanging out on your system. You can just use the password manager to login as needed, rather than saying persistently logged into services you're not using.

To be honest, I would rather pay for a service than have it use me as the product too.

28-03-2018 05:34PM

I finally checked data I downloaded Facebook held on me and they got text messages and Audio recordings, that's all I could check for now.

Grateful Dread · 29-03-2018 09:32AM

Permabear wrote: »

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re: Google
Tech consultant who can't 'empty trash' and go into settings and turn all those things off?

Permabear · 29-03-2018 09:58AM

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Skedaddle · 29-03-2018 11:08AM

That's the problem though. This is entirely novel. Nobody's ever gathered this kind of information on people on a commercial basis before.

It's previously been the kind of activity that you'd associate with oppressive states' secret police services i.e. the likes of the East German Statsi or the KGB.

We don't really know how to deal with this because it's not something that we've any experience of on this kind of mass data acquisition scale and you can see how this information can be used to manipulate politics and control society. That's why those oppressive organisations were so obsessed with gathering data like this in the past.

Also, not every social media user lives in a happy-go-lucky liberal western democracy. These things can be used by oppressive states seeking court orders to access data on people. Even in western democracies, the treasure trove of data is probably too tempting for security agencies to ignore and you can get scenarios of police corruption and so on where data's used against people. If you look at China in particular, they ban international social media, and encourage Chinese citizens onto Chinese platforms which are exposed to extreme levels of government monitoring.

The notion that if you've nothing to hide, you've nothing to worry about is nonsense. Any sensitive aspect of your life could be stored in these trawls of data - from information about your political views and leanings, your sexuality, your religious beliefs, very personal information about your physical or mental health gleaned from internet searches and so on.

I could see a scenario emerge where a lot of the activities of these big data monsters are ultimately banned. It's already been allowed to get way out of hand. Not only has the law not kept up, but it hasn't really understood what the emerging risks were in the first place. I don't think many people really understood the extent of the data that's being captured.

We have voluntarily walked ourselves into some weird version of the Orwellian world of 1984, only it's not the state that took control (in the West at least), it's big corporations and private actors.

I'm also not entirely sure that the consent to this is valid as very few people ever understood what was being gathered or how it was being sold on.

Grateful Dread · 29-03-2018 11:14AM

Permabear wrote: »

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I went into a newly created Google account and saw the location, voice and audio wasn't on by default. So they don't track everything by default anymore.

Also, what am I getting in return for answering those questions? I'm talking specifically about Google by the way.

I agree with you on Facebook, but Google aren't that bad.

Permabear · 29-03-2018 12:06PM

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Grateful Dread · 29-03-2018 01:09PM

.
Well, Google, like Facebook, makes its money off advertising. It uses your search history, email content, and location history to send you targeted ads, which is not really all that different from what Facebook does -- except that Facebook offers you the chance to connect with family and friends as a way of extracting your data, and Google offers useful services such as web search, email, calendar, maps, etc.

Google keep your data for themselves. It's their most valuable asset. Rather, they sell ad space based on an anonymous user data to outside company's.

With FB, you're actual info is up for grabs to whoever will pay for it.

Well, Google has consistently obstructed investigations into its data collection practices by both EU and US regulators. When it emerged that Google had been using its Street View cars collect huge amounts of information by sniffing WiFi connections, Australian regulators called it the single biggest privacy breach in history. Google is rapacious in its pursuit of information, and is now deploying AI to figure out how to increasingly monetize everything it knows about you. So if you reject Facebook for privacy reasons, you should also reject Google.

Yes I agree there and I know they're complicit, but I still don't believe they're as bad as FB. They're more transparent, for what it's worth.

citytillidie · 29-03-2018 01:48PM

Permabear wrote: »

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You can have a FB profile with out filling out all that information, it is up to any person how much the wish or do not wish to share.

Skedaddle · 29-03-2018 02:06PM

citytillidie wrote: »

You can have a FB profile with out filling out all that information, it is up to any person how much the wish or do not wish to share.

It pulls information from how you interact with other profiles and also from cookies used to track ads and webpages that contain its tracking code.

The point is that you're almost never explicitly asked for this information. You sign up to a very verbose set or T&Cs that hardly anyone has the patience to read and you suddenly have a data leech in your life.

Very, very few users are technically savvy enough to avoid this.

Permabear · 29-03-2018 02:25PM

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Skedaddle · 29-03-2018 02:59PM

Well, if you consider something like Gmail for example, it's actively scanning and parsing your email messages looking for key words and phrases that might give it some kind of a sense of you.

That could include highly confidential information, which like it or not, people do tend to send around by email.

Now Google do assure us that any data that they slurp from your email is handled in such a way that it's never processed by human eyes and that it's made anonymous, but would you put up with that from any other organisation?

I mean imagine if your telephone company said they'd give you free calls if you'd allow their computer systems to listen to your phone calls and voicemail and scan those for key words?

Or, how about the post office opening your mail and going through it for marketing information ?

I don't think many people would tolerate that level of intrusion from services that they actually understand. That's why I don't think that people have given what could be described as informed consent for this. They clearly don't understand just how intrusive this level of surveillance (which is what it is) actually is.

If you take something like Gmail, it was also highly controversial when it came out as people weren't very comfortable with the idea of a compute system delving into your private communication like that. However, we got used to it and little by little we have handled more and more data over to these companies without any real idea of what that means or how much data we're handing.

What this Facebook and CA thing has shown me is that the assurances that these companies give are potentially meaningless. At the end of the day they are rapidly growing startups, felling their way around an industry that they're creating. They're often pushing the boundaries of what's acceptable and legal in terms of data protection and I think that's where why we will always have a problem.

Legislators, politicians, most non specialist journalists and in fact most of the general public aren't aware of what the implications of this are or the extent of how much data is being gathered. The result is that you've got a major gap between law making, public discourse and the reality of what's going on in this, very rapidly developing, sector.

We're working with data protection legislation that largely was written in an era before social media and before big-data was even a concept.

How To delete Facebook Account.

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