Ignoring History

So, just about everybody and their mother (and my mother!) is on Facebook these days. Yet, suddenly, there have been numerous calls for people to delete their Facebook accounts, due to Facebook not really giving a shit about anybody wanting any degree of privacy. Most of their default settings allow pretty much anybody to see everything on your profile, pictures, contact info, you name it. This might not be such a huge issue if Facebook actually informed its users that it was doing these things, but they don't, mostly because founder Mark Zuckerberg is an ass.

Now look, personally, some of this stuff is not that big a deal to me, but I make a point of keeping myself informed when Facebook changes something, so that I can make the requisite changes to my privacy settings to keep them where I want them. Also, I don't much care who sees my profile and my info, as long as they refrain from drunk dialing me and sending me spam e-mail. It's not like my SSN and bank account numbers are up there. However, I also understand that not everybody has the same preferences I have, and if Facebook can't respect everybody's privacy of its own accord, then it needs to be forced to. This would require either government intervention, or people deleting their accounts in droves. I'm not huge on government intervention (they've got too damn much power as it is), but if they would direct it properly, that would be fine. The second option brings us back to where I started this post: deleting your account (not to be confused with deactivating your account, which is the only option Facebook readily presents you; if you want to actually delete your account, you have to dig through something like five links to get to it). As I keep myself in the know about Facebook's activities, I don't feel threatened enough by their policies to rid myself of my account at this time. It's still the most convenient way to stay in touch with friends (which is almost exclusively what I use it for), for all of its absurdity, redundant (and sometimes confusing) interface, and assload of annoying applications, which it seems like I have to Hide another dozen of every time I sign in, until I get fed up with the handful of friends who are responsible for it and just Hide them instead (or delete them altogether, if I'm feeling feisty). But, I digress.

Myspace had the market cornered for awhile there, but they fucked it up by ignoring what the users wanted. Facebook and Mr. Zuckerberg ought to be keenly aware of this, lest they go the way of Myspace whenever a better alternative comes along.