Mathew details his full reasoning, the technique, and how the script (which is really just a proof of concept) works in a blog post. It’s possible that the script could be a violation of Facebook’s terms of service, since it could be considered to impair or disable the proper functionality of Facebook. If you decide to give it a shot, keep that in mind.
THERE NEEDS TO BE A ONE-CLICK EXIT PLAN: The-Right-To-Be-Forgotten.
Exit FakeBook Plan
see post
Or just have not put stuff on the internet you wouldn’t want the whole world to know about you to begin with...and not set your facebook profile to “public” and not staying logged in when you weren’t using it...
Although...for those that use smart phone app and it was reporting taking your call history, location history, etc. by default, that’s another matter.
bkmk
Don’t use FB much if at all but for photos of the grandchildren. One thing I do notice is the ten telemarketer calls I get a day tend to be spoofed with area codes from my kids. Gotta give them an “A” for effort but I don’t answer them just the same.
I have a minimal FB profile but only wish I had put in entirely false information to begin with.
Everyone should “poison” their data, but if this becomes a big enough movement as you suggest with a “one-click” way to do it - it will also “poison the well”.
Facebook makes it’s money by selling targeted ads to reach specific people. The entire foundation of that concept is that people provide truthful information - if they lie and make up crap then the value of what they have to sell is diminished. Imagine what would happen if you were paying say $500 a month for FB ads to reach people within 30 miles of your store, only to discover that half of the “people” you were paying to have your ads delivered to lived all over the country and just picked your town at random? You’d instantly want $250 back, at the very least!
If enough people poison the well, it could put Facebook out of business! Their entire business model would be damaged beyond repair.
But it's intended for people finally wising up about FB, and it's part of the "EXIT PLAN".
So, what are they going to do? Terminate the account? That's after restoring your "untainted" backup before banning you, so it's still an asset?
Prioritize your final profile/"data" for selling to the lowest of the low spammers?
Bookmark.
I’m sure FB does daily backups or snapshot backups.
So poisoning your data does no good for yesterday’s data as they can always restore your old data if they detect that your data was poisoned before your account was deleted.
Anything you post to the Internet is their forever.
Later
I hope people understand that it’s not JUST Facebook that keeps data, but all of them.
Google, Apple, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Imgur, Reddit, Tumblr, and a thousand other apps.
You can argue the nuances, and whether they admit to it or not, but if you read any EULA carefully, they always retain the right. In that case, assume they enforce the right is they only way to truly understand the extent of any possible damage to your privacy.
And let’s not forget the NSA is dumping ALL data going across the net. Unless encrypted, save packets can be read. And encryption algorithms can be broken. Also keep in mind that voice communications—telephone—are often carried over packet-switched networks nowadays and THAT data is archived with all the rest.
And remember that this site, Free Republic, is constantly scanned and indexed. Search Google on your own FReeper name and you’d be surprised. Every post is tabulated somewhere.
My solution was to create a fake persona so I can visit other Facebook pages, but I never post any real information.
When I buy Facebook I will split it into three. Social Media, Religion, Politics.
later
This is intended for people leaving Facebook, keep THAT in mind.
If you're leaving, who gives a rat's patootie whether you violate their terms of service or not???
Just for fun, I just went in and deleted my High School and changed my college.
My thoughts, interest, and who I am belong to ME. The law should be protecting me from unwanted intrusions from others who wish to profile, blackmail, or profit off of me being who I am. The answer is to apply the fourth amendment to all internet activities and force Facebook, Google, and others to pay restitution to everyone they have maintained data on. Send me MY check.
They'd ban you for doing this?
I'm not seeing the downside...
BFL
For later action.
I don’t use Facebook much, and I put minimal information in it, and set the privacy level so that my information is available only to FB friends (all 7 of them). I liked a few pages, mostly scientific organizations.
So I get email with a lot of science spam, for instance, how to keep up with HIPAA changes, or offering webinars on new lab techniques. Plus, I get emails for male singles in my area and shady offers for fake viagra. It appears that my online persona is a middle aged gay scientist with ED.
I’m actually okay with that.