[Air-L] With Friends Like Facebook ....

[Nicole Ellison]

I don't think the profile remains visible when you deactivate your  
account. The note you quote doesn't suggest this, and their privacy  
policy states:

"Changing or Removing Information
Access and control over most personal information on Facebook is  
readily available through the profile editing tools. Facebook users  
may modify or delete any of their profile information at any time by  
logging into their account. Information will be updated immediately.  
Individuals who wish to deactivate their Facebook account may do so  
on the My Account page. Removed information may persist in backup  
copies for a reasonable period of time but will not be generally  
available to members of Facebook.
Where you make use of the communication features of the service to  
share information with other individuals on Facebook, however, (e.g.,  
sending a personal message to another Facebook user) you generally  
cannot remove such communications."

I agree that being tagged in photos, etc. while not around is  
troubling, as is the fact that FB keeps a copy of your info for an  
unspecified period of time, but not quite as problematic as not being  
able to remove one's profile from the system.
I haven't deactivated, though, so maybe I'm wrong.
Nicole



On Jan 16, 2008, at 4:24 PM, Ray Land wrote:

> Thanks Kathleen.  Those as old as I might remember that line from  
> The Eagles' 'Hotel California':
>
> 'You can check out, but you can never leave ...'
>
> Ray
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org on behalf of Kathleen  
> Fitzpatrick
> Sent: Wed 16/01/2008 18:27
> To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
> Subject: Re: [Air-L] With Friends Like Facebook ....
>
>
>
> On the question of pulling one's Facebook profile, I would also add
> that there's a real technological overdetermination that hasn't yet
> been fully explored:  As a student of mine discovered last semester
> while writing a term paper about "death" on Facebook (in quotation
> marks because he was both looking at the ongoing existence of profiles
> of users who have passed away and at the status of profiles that users
> have "killed"), a deactivated profile is never really removed from the
> site.  In fact, if you attempt to deactivate your Facebook account,
> you get the following bits of info:
>
>> Note: Even after you deactivate, your friends can still invite you
>> to events, tag you in photos, or ask you to join groups. If you opt
>> out, you will NOT receive these email invitations and notifications
>> from your friends.
>> You can reactivate your account at any time by logging in with your
>> email and password.
>>
>
> Which is to say that your profile remains on the network even if you
> pull it -- shambling on in a zombie-like state, perhaps, accruing but
> failing to respond to pokes and wall posts, but still there,
> nonetheless....
>
> --K.
>
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  * * *
Nicole Ellison, PhD
nellison at msu.edu