Legal and Ethical Issues Concerning Internet Marketing Part III

My third post for legal and ethical issues involves something many college -- and now high school -- students take part in. Facebook.com

An article on New York Times entitled "How Sticky Is Membership on Facebook?" discusses how facebook.com members can have a great deal of trouble deleting his or her membership from the website. A former facebook member, Nipon Das, claims it took him to threaten legal action towards facebook.com, in order for them to completely delete his records from the site.

The article states, "But even after that, a reporter was able to find Mr. Das’s empty profile on Facebook and successfully sent him an e-mail message through the network."http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/11/technology/11facebook.html?scp=8&sq=legal+internet+marketing&st=nyt

Facebook is supposed to be an online community and networking website with seemingly optional membership. Members are highly under the impression that they choose to delete their membership, they will be facebook free forever. However, this is not the case.

"Facebook’s quiet archiving of information from deactivated accounts has increased concerns about the network’s potential abuse of private data, especially in the wake of its fumbled Beacon advertising feature. That application, which tracks and publishes the items bought by Facebook members on outside Web sites, was introduced in November without a transparent, one-step opt-out feature. After a public backlash, including more than 50,000 Facebook users’ signatures on a MoveOn.org protest petition, Facebook executives apologized and allowed such an opt-out option on the program."

Facebook has undoubtedly tainted the trust amongst users with its Beacon advertising feature. The premise of facebook can create a certain degree of vulnerability amongst users, and the last thing members want is to feel more exposed that they already do on facebook. I feel as though facebook.com should take great measures to assure members once they do not wish to be in the facebook community, they should be deleted completely. Withholding information about former methods is unethical, and downright creepy.