I’m not exactly sure if either of those two sites ever claimed not to store personal data. In the case of Gamil, it was known that they would continue their practices as established under the normal search routines. Almost, but not quite, do they cross the line of privacy invasion.

MySpace…well…teenagers don’t seem to care much. I made so many joke accounts there, including Gillian Anderson (the whale doc from Star Trek IV), just to test that site. I got all the expected crud associated with just having an account there.

Here’s the difference: FaceBook announced that they do not receive information if the user opts out. They neglected to mention that if you select, even once, the “stay logged in” feature, it would always track you. They denied this, they may be trying to back away from it. And now with this latest update (thanks for doing this btw),
we now can see that they are admitting to receiving the information. “We delete it,” doesn’t smell right. Isn’t it currently federally illegal to delete electronically transferred data?

Yeah, companies are gonna do this. Potential G-mailers knew before hand and most didn’t go for it. MySpacers are apparently willing to pay the price for what little fame they can acquire. Facebookers are howling mad about it and are trying to get the company, or government to act on it.

Being on the internet is Not the same as stepping onto a public street. Communication from my computer to the computer that holds the information I am requesting should have the same confidentiality privileges as doctor-patient or journalist-source. Any intervening body, whether private, corporate, or governmental Must be required to have reasonable cause to suspect criminal activity to even to attempt to see that information.

This is simply where it begins. If FaceBook fails because of it, the next company to try it will get the same treatment until somebody steps in and sets a control on it.