

Why I'm Quitting Instagram - iProject
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/31/126113/

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blindhippo
Interesting - I recently just disabled/deleted most of my public online
presence as well for much the same reason. Privacy was a concern, but really
it came down to the net benefit of having these accounts in my life.

Facebook added nothing to my life - indeed it actually harmed some
relationships since I figured people didn't need to communicate directly with
me if they could follow my public feed.

Twitter became a vector for me to bitch about the world to no one in
particular. Try as I might, I usually ended up sending out a stream of
negativity which the world certainly does not need more of and it does nothing
good for me personally.

I'm considering ditching LinkedIn, but that seems to be taboo - HR drones seem
to expect a LinkedIn profile and get suspicious if there isn't one (this isn't
a good trend IMO).

Since terminating many of the "social" media services in my life, I've felt
better about how I present myself to the world. I no longer fret about that
last tweet I sent out, or feel a need to check on my "feeds". That said, it
does leave me looking at my smart phone and wondering what the hell to do with
it.

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ryguytilidie
"HR drones seem to expect a LinkedIn profile and get suspicious if there isn't
one"

a) this isn't true. b) The whole HR drones thing is pretty lame. "Hey I assume
I'm way smarter than everyone in this field because I said so".

~~~
dyeje
I don't think he was implying that everyone with an HR is a drone. I believe
he was referring to the HR industry's less inspired members.

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lmm
This is one of the many reasons I'm glad I live in the EU. We're not perfect,
but we take the privacy of personal data much more seriously than the rest of
the world seems to.

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outside1234
let me get this straight - he starts two services that collect social
information for sale to 3rd parties (advertisers until they fail, then whoever
will buy) - hits a jackpot - and THEN suddenly is altruistic.

is that right?

~~~
sillysaurus
Surely you have something more interesting to talk about than this ad hom
attack.

What motivates this sort of attack, anyway? Jealousy? A sense of justice?

~~~
bradleyland
This is not an ad hominem attack. The author's background is closely related
to the subject matter. The fact that he once owned and operated companies that
were (possibly?) engaged in much of the same practices brings about relevant
questions about the consistency of his views. Was he always of the same mind,
but operating in contradiction with his ethical viewpoints in order to make
money, or was there some turning point? What motivated that change of
viewpoint?

These are relevant questions.

~~~
ryanblock
You seem to be better informed about my businesses than I am. Would you care
to show me where, during my career, I've EVER engaged in profiting from the
sale of user data and social information?

You sound like you know what you're talking about, but everything you just
said is based on a presupposed conclusion, hedged by the word "arguably".

~~~
3825
bradley did not use the word "arguably" as far as I can see.

~~~
ryanblock
He went back and edited his post.

~~~
bradleyland
I did so to be more fair. It is common practice for media companies to profit
from user data (through "marketing" partnerships), but after reading my post
"arguably" was too explicit. You should have the opportunity to define the
terms of the discussion, seeing that it's about you.

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bckmn
I wrote similar thoughts a couple weeks ago: <http://bckmn.com/pay-for-your-
life-online/>

I think the biggest catharsis that needs to happen this coming year is for
people to realize how free services actually work.

~~~
heynow
Can you recommend a book that discusses how free services actually work?

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jonathanjaeger
Am I the only one who is gaining more value from Facebook than ever before?
Yeah in college it was fun to look at profiles from people you met in class or
at parties, and if you weren't part of Facebook you didn't know of the big
events or parties unless someone told you.. but that is nothing compared to
now. Now I can easily follow updates from my favorite artists, friends who are
visiting NYC and want to meet up, and see branded/tech-related stuff I
subscribe to all in a compact and useful News Feed algorithm.

Putting privacy concerns aside, which don't affect me personally, Facebook is
a utility that is providing more value to me now than it did in college.

~~~
3825
>Putting privacy concerns aside, which don't affect me personally

I beg to differ.

~~~
jonathanjaeger
I knew someone was going to point this out. Yes, technically they do affect me
but most likely they will have little to no affect on my day-to-day life.
There are many negative consequences to the privacy problems that do exist, so
I'm more concerned about privacy at large and relevant legislation than my own
personal privacy on a day-to-day basis.

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protomyth
So, let's say you do "delete" your account. Wouldn't your information still be
there to be sold? Does any TOS actually say deleting your account deletes all
data from that account?

~~~
nhangen
Most people try to counter this by deleting all photos and comments, but
still, if what you're suggesting is the reality, then it's only a half-
measure.

~~~
protomyth
Does doing that actually work? Sites have backups which I presume would get
sold along with the company. I am just not sure if any service (other than
maybe the Well) actually deletes stuff when you say to delete it. The TOS for
every site can be modified at will, so I wonder if any service guarantees
removal.

~~~
nwh
It certainly doesn't for Facebook. "Deleted" photos remain live for years,
probably forever. I imagine that Instragram does the same.

~~~
prostoalex
Not true [http://arstechnica.com/business/2012/08/facebook-finally-
cha...](http://arstechnica.com/business/2012/08/facebook-finally-changes-
photo-deletion-policy-after-3-years-of-reporting/)

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chippy
Early adopter stops using service as service becomes mainstream.

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tteam
Very practical reason to quit using multiple online services. Once personal
data leaves your computer there is no guarantee what form it will take.

Check our personal cloud service Tonido (www.tonido.com). You will like it and
no question of data ownership ever.

