- by Hannah Nicholls-Harrison

This may be goodbye. While I am not deleting facebook entirely, I am taking steps in that direction. I have severely limited my privacy and will be slowly deleting my data footprint (photos, videos, check-ins, etc.). I will also be reducing my network as much as possible.

Over the last few days, I have been reading as much as I can about data rights and ‘surveillance captialism’ (the business model of Silicon Valley, which incentivises the use of personal data to manipulate human behaviour on a massive scale). I am really concerned about their effects on democracy and freethought.

I am frustrated with Facebook's disregard for personal privacy and their choice to sell private data to research firms. I am frustrated that they continually mislead the public on how they are improving. I am frustrated that they resist regulation and continue to negate their influence in the political process.

Go watch 'The Great Hack’ on Netflix  (It doesn’t reveal much that hasn't been reported elsewhere, but it’s a good invitation to consider the larger picture of how current data-sharing practices are eroding democracy).

If you want to limit your data footprint but don't want to delete Facebook, here are some suggestions:

1) Check out https://datadetoxkit.org/en/detox (or https://www.theverge.com/…/facebook-privacy-data-informatio…)

2) Do not use Facebook with multiple tabs open/use Facebook in a separate browser window. Facebook tracks you across your browser (even after you close the tab with Facebook on it).

3) Turn off microphone activation in messenger, it tracks voice recognition (like Siri) to collect information about your behaviours/preferences.

Data rights are human rights.

photo: Library of Congress, Public Domain