Either Facebook should develop an IMAP system to read and reply to Facebook messages (Im only talking about the Mail, not wall posts or anything silly like that), or someone should develop a third-party system that integrates Facebook mail with IMAP.

I dont know a lot about the Facebook API’s but I would hope there was some way to access your own Mail messages through the API.  I also dont know a lot about how IMAP is built, but in my mind either an IMAP plugin (if such a thing is possible) to fetch mail from Facebook, or simply a system that fetches mail from Facebook using the credentials supplied by the user and pushes them into an IMAP system (tweaking the headers to put in a different Reply-To address – something like “reply-FACEBOOKMESSAGEID@fbmail.com” – so replies would go back to this third-party system which would then push the reply back into Facebook).

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The gist of the article/video is that Facebook (then known as TheFacebook) potentially has links with the C.I.A. and other U.S. government agencies. The connections relate to the information that Facebook holds on its 30 million-odd users. If what the video and article is suggesting is true, maybe we should do something? The Terms and Privacy conditions of Facebook alone are enough to raise the hairs on your neck. The new Facebook Beacon service that allows websites to send your purchase (and other) information to Facebook is far too intrusive in my opinion. If you want to opt out of that service, you can do so here.

I dont necesarily have anything to hide in regards to my online habits, but it scares me that an organisation as large and un-trustworthy as Facebook, holds so much information about me. I have heard horror stories about trying to delete Facebook accounts – there is no simple way to do it. Its easy to Deactivate your account but it is re-activated the next time you log in. What if you want to entirely remove yourself from their servers? Is it possible?

Steps to delete your Facebook account:

1. Remove all your friends, posts, wall posts etc etc etc absolutely everything.
2. Then contact Facebook and ask them to delete your account.

There is no other way. And be sure to delete all your profile data.

There is something about having my personal information stored by somebody else that scares me. It is even more scary when the removal of that data is so difficult and time-consuming… and probably never actually happens anyway. Part of the Facebook privacy policy is that they can store your information for a reasonable amount of time (which could be forever and ever until the interwebs finally die). The only way to prevent Facebook (and all that comes with that) from accessing your personal information is not to sign up in the first place… although even then, their Terms allow for them to scrape information from other websites about you.

I havent closed my Facebook account as of writing this. I only opened one to keep in touch with people I had met while in Honduras. However, I will probably try and delete it soon.

I want my information to be my information, not yours.

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