I deleted my Facebook account.
I was initially inspired by this video that made the rounds:
The short version:
-The new edition to the Messenger app allows Facebook to listen through your microphone while you're using it. Or so they have been saying. We suspect it is more like "always."
-Facebook reads your texts and emails.
-There are some phones you can't delete the Facebook app from.
-The NSA uses Facebook to plant malware and spyware on Facebook users to spy on them, and can request any information they want to from Facebook for basically no reason, and do, and people get arrested and spied on because of it.
-This kind of surveillance is against the Constitution and violates your rights as an American citizen (may apply in other countries as well--I am unsure/not a lawyer).
-"This video isn't even just about privacy issues. Facebook is dirty in other ways than that. Facebook requires users who have large followings to PAY PER POST and boost the post so it can reach the people ALREADY following them. Otherwise the post will only result in under 10% of the following seeing the post. It's a dirty way to make money. (http://goo.gl/iPpuk4)" -Quote from video author, Matthias
-Deleting Facebook won't fix everything that's wrong with internet and social media privacy issues and such. But it will eliminate the worst of the worst, and it will start a conversation. Both of those things are not to be scoffed at.
My own reasons to add to this list:
-Even if you "have nothing to hide," you might find that you DO have something to hide in the event of new laws or policies that become a threat to you. A Muslim American may have had "nothing to hide" before 9/11 and afterward have found themselves wishing to withdraw into the background in the wake of panic and violence that ensued. An Occupy protestor, completely within their legal rights, may still have "something to hide" if they fear being shut down by the government. And the list goes on.
-Our constitutional privacy laws are meant to protect us from the government (precisely because a person should be free to express anti-government, anti-establishment, anti-anything opinions in the privacy of his own home without fear of preemptive, "preventative" action by the feds). But there are laws which allow that information the government gleans from a third party is legal and can be used to watch you.
Immediately after I watched this video, I deleted Facebook from my phone and began researching how and why to delete Facebook entirely. But I didn't do it.
I hesitated for a few reasons:
-My blog, at the time, got about 60% of its traffic from Facebook (now less than 20% of all time traffic is from Facebook, and quickly dropping).
-There were a handful of people I kept up with almost exclusively on Facebook, and didn't wish to lose a relationship with.
-The idea hurt. I've had my account for 6 years, and suddenly changing that pattern was a shocking thought. I toyed a lot with the idea, and ended up just signing out every time I left the page (because they can watch anything you're doing on your computer while you're logged in, even if the page isn't open--haven't you ever wondered how they knew you were interested in that particular dress on eBay?)
That was probably 2 months ago. Today, I changed my mind.
Here is why:
-More recent information has shown that Facebook can actually listen in through your computer as well as your phone--through the messaging app, which as I'm sure you're aware is not its own separate app on the computer, it is a mandatory part of Facebook.
-They can monitor your internet activity on any computer that you log into Facebook from. Seriously. Can and do. Even when you're not logged in and don't have Facebook open.
-The newest user agreement for the Facebook messenger app gives Facebook the right to listen in through your microphone and watch through your camera at any time, even if the app is not open and on any device it is installed on. They could be watching you through your computer, your iPad, your iPod and your iPhone all at the same time right now. They could have been watching you jerk off. They could have been watching you pick your nose. They could have been watching you smoke something that may or may not be legal (depending on your state). They could have been listening you tell your friend how much you think the President sucks, or how much you hate the NSA, or how much you support legalizing abortion. You name it. Anything you do that you'd rather not be stored and filed and given to an enormous, influential corporation and the government and god knows who else.
-Their statement when confronted with this was that the allegations they're always listening and watching aren't true. NOT ALWAYS. That was the best they could do.
-After seeing the many critiques of Facebook's coverage of the Ferguson situation--in other words, the strange lack of prominence of Ferguson-related posts on Facebook compared to other social media sites, notably Twitter--I'm particularly suspicious of their control of feed content.
-I can't support this kind of thing. I just can't do it. No matter how convenient it is or how fun it is. Just not good enough reasons for me.
-Mark Zuckerberg was born in 1984 for all of you crazy conspiracy theorists out there! ;)
http://www.wikihow.com/Permanently-Delete-a-Facebook-Account
After doing it, I feel:
-Proud
-Liberated
-Happy
If you do it, leave a comment and let me know how you're feeling!
Sources:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ricksmith/2014/09/08/facebook-and-the-unethics-of-human-trafficking-2/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfnKmPQdapw
http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/your-facebook-pages-organic-reach-about-plummet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griswold_v._Connecticut
http://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/in-ferguson-facebook-cant-deliver-on-its-promise-to-deliver#476chq3
http://www.businessinsider.com/this-is-how-facebook-is-tracking-your-internet-activity-2012-9?op=1
Linked Video's Sources:
FB Passive Listening: http://goo.gl/y1CYR0
FB Reads Your Texts: http://goo.gl/x7nPfu
NSA FB Servers: http://goo.gl/dflG51
FB Privacy Listening Issues: http://goo.gl/nluYZB
FB Stores Your Recordings: http://goo.gl/bmY6bQ
FB Silently Updates TOS: http://goo.gl/ZAajME
FB Organic Reach Throttled: http://goo.gl/iPpuk4
FB FRAUD : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVfHe...
FB Leaks Millions of Private Messages: http://goo.gl/OZySRp
FB and FBI: http://goo.gl/GuLBgV
Reddit Thread on FB Listening: http://goo.gl/imGjs8
Users Slam FB Listening: http://goo.gl/SQZ8Ny
How Audio Fingerprints Work: http://goo.gl/ndMlyh
The Right to Privacy: http://goo.gl/WEjp5T
Recommended Further Reading/Watching:
Terms & Conditions May Apply (on Netflix)
V For Vendetta1984
Brave New World
Minority Report
