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Feb
11
You Can Check In, But Can Never Leave Facebook
Filed Under Facebook, life online, social networking | Comments Off
Facebook turns out the be very “sticky” — as in people never seem to leave the site — reports Maria Aspan in the New York Times.
Like the Marines — once a Marine, always a Marine — it seems the same applies at Facebook. If you sign up, you may never be able to quit Facebook.
Some users have discovered that it is nearly impossible to remove themselves entirely from Facebook, setting off a fresh round of concern over the popular social network’s use of personal data.
While the Web site offers users the option to deactivate their accounts, Facebook servers keep copies of the information in those accounts indefinitely. Indeed, many users who have contacted Facebook to request that their accounts be deleted have not succeeded in erasing their records from the network.
“It’s like the Hotel California,” said Nipon Das, 34, a director at a biotechnology consulting firm in Manhattan, who tried unsuccessfully to delete his account this fall. “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.”
