The
video featured in
my last post on the subject seems to be spreading, and someone emailed Facebook about it. Facebook actually responded, and they did so within days, not weeks, not months. They also said that none of it was true. It seems that they are aware that it is an issue, and are ready to deny any claims of it happening, all the while ignoring all of the victims of their automated deletion system. Hopefully this means that we might actually be getting through to them a bit, so please keep up the emails and passing on the video! Here is the email exchange:
From: The Facebook Team
Date: Fri, Jul 31, 2009 at 5:49 PM
Subject: Re: PRIVACY: Unfair Policy
To: miket1935@gmail.com
Hi Michael,
The message you received is false and can be safely disregarded. I apologize for any confusion this has caused. If you have any further questions, please visit our Help Center at the following address:
http://www.facebook.com/help.php
Thanks for contacting Facebook,
Marc
User Operations
Facebook
-----Original Message to Facebook-----
From: miket1935@gmail.com
To: info@facebook.com
Subject: PRIVACY: Unfair Policy
Description of problem: I have recently been informed of facebook's policy of deleting accounts/groups without first investigating the nature of who it is being flagged. In this day and age, many of us have a great portion of our lives on our facebooks, and if someone is at risk of having their account deleted ,a warning should be given. In the event a group is to be deleted without investigation of the circumstances behind its flagging, I would please ask that facebook get in contact with whoever is in charge to first warn them of the potential deletion, and provide REASONS behind such deletion. A policy of deletion without investigation is the same as a justice system without trials; ineffective in the long run. I please ask Facebook to reconsider their stance on this issue.
-----End Original Message to Facebook-----
The
video featured in
my last post on the subject seems to be spreading, and someone emailed Facebook about it. Facebook actually responded, and they did so within days, not weeks, not months. They also said that none of it was true. It seems that they are aware that it is an issue, and are ready to deny any claims of it happening, all the while ignoring all of the victims of their automated deletion system. Hopefully this means that we might actually be getting through to them a bit, so please keep up the emails and passing on the video! Here is the email exchange:
From: The Facebook Team
Date: Fri, Jul 31, 2009 at 5:49 PM
Subject: Re: PRIVACY: Unfair Policy
To: miket1935@gmail.com
Hi Michael,
The message you received is false and can be safely disregarded. I apologize for any confusion this has caused. If you have any further questions, please visit our Help Center at the following address:
http://www.facebook.com/help.php
Thanks for contacting Facebook,
Marc
User Operations
Facebook
-----Original Message to Facebook-----
From: miket1935@gmail.com
To: info@facebook.com
Subject: PRIVACY: Unfair Policy
Description of problem: I have recently been informed of facebook's policy of deleting accounts/groups without first investigating the nature of who it is being flagged. In this day and age, many of us have a great portion of our lives on our facebooks, and if someone is at risk of having their account deleted ,a warning should be given. In the event a group is to be deleted without investigation of the circumstances behind its flagging, I would please ask that facebook get in contact with whoever is in charge to first warn them of the potential deletion, and provide REASONS behind such deletion. A policy of deletion without investigation is the same as a justice system without trials; ineffective in the long run. I please ask Facebook to reconsider their stance on this issue.
-----End Original Message to Facebook-----
Facebook is well aware of our concerns...and is denying them
4 comments:
Can someone please explain to me how exactly Facebook is in the wrong here? Facebook is under no obligation to you -- by uploading, you agree to their EULA which explicitly states that they can disable accounts at their discretion.
And the nonsense about "is this the kind of Internet" we want is just that -- nonsense. No, it isn't, but in my opinion, Facebook already is not the kind of Internet we want. If you don't trust them to secure access to your data (and there is no reason you should), then don't use Facebook, or keep backups.
I thought Facebook was priding itself on being a site which values and honors the right to free speech and the free exchange of ideas and thoughts between friends, family and the world community. I am always conscious of their terms of service and I never get confrontational or use offensive langauge in my posts.
Last night I posted a couple of remarks about my views on healthcare and many others remarked on my page.. I also posted a YouTube video about healthcare.. I awoke thiis morning to find that my Facebook account had been deleted. I had almost 2500 friends and over 2 years worth of blogs in my notes and several hundred photos on this site. I was very active and never misused the online forum. Coincidently, I got a certified email today from the White House..from the President's Senior Advisor regarding the proposed health care plan.. I find this very interesting ..especially in this current climate..so...what is Facebook up to and is Washington really watching us? These are heated times indeed and we don't need to lose our voices. Stan M.
Leonid;
You are indeed correct - Facebook is under no legal obligation to do anything. They can - and do - disable & delete accounts as they see fit. But legality is not my main issue here - my main issue is one of responsible business practice & respect for one's customers.
Facebook customers will generate $ 500-550 M in revenues for the company this year. No matter what the company's actual policies are with respect to disabling / deleting accounts my main issue here is a lack of respect for the customers that have made them what they are. If an account is about to get disabled, they should issue a warning. Once it does get disabled there should be a path of communication possible between the company & customer. Neither is currently possible. FB is obviously aware of this but chooses to ignore customer concerns. People invest a lot of time and faith in the FB platform to set up their online presence. When this is cut off without warning it can disrupt one's life. In my case - I am cut off from my main business presence on the internet - so this is more than just an inconvenience to me.
Willfully ignoring customers pleas smacks of a corporate culture of arrogance.
Poor customer care & ignoring customer concerns is not illegal - it is just bad business practice. This is a consumer advocacy campaign, not a legal battle.
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