@jamesshelley My understanding is that FB still owns all your data and will continue to sell it to advertisers, but it will no longer show up on your home page there or on people's timelines. And you'll no longer be giving FB any new data. Do I have that right? As for email, I think a high percentage of email at one end or another of email traffic is a gmail account. So google will be able to continue to gather up all that stuff for their own revenue earning purposes. Right?

@jamesshelley Brilliant stuff. I'm out on the big social media companies as well, which I also blogged about.

@jamesshelley Congratulations on making such a brave decision. Hopefully will see a follow-up post from you in a month or two saying you have thrived in the absence of social media. Having examples of people who have successfully pulled the plug on social media will help others make the decision for themselves as well.

@jamesshelley Europe is clearly leading the way on privacy, regulating a lot more than here in the Land of the "Free." But if software is designed & written in secret, owned by private interests, and not subject to inspection by anyone else, what hope do we really have for true accountability? We're just gonna rely on Suckerberg to do what is right? How well has that been working? Fundamentally we have a computer system that knows no national boundaries. How can any local legislature regulate what operates far outside its own boundaries? Is there anyone really in charge here?

@jamesshelley There is so much in this article that I agree with. You have succinctly described and gave reason to the feeling of disgust I feel towards Facebook.