shouting loudly

Google Horror Story: Deleted Online Identities

Danah boyd has a great post examining the dangers of losing our online identities at the whims of corporate decisionmakers.

If we get our GMail/FaceBook/Yahoo! account hijacked, what can we do when the company deletes it and all our related data? If we’re connected, that’s one thing, but what about those who are not so fortunate?

There’s also the (much more often discussed) flipside: What if I want to delete my stuff forever? Thanks to redundant backup storage, “forever” is several backups away, at the earliest.

Interesting questions, all.

(Link from Berkman)