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Deleting data in a complicated system is not at all a trivial task as data integrity can easily be impacted. So Facebook's excuse that they can't delete data a

Deleting data in a complicated system is not at all a trivial task as data integrity can easily be impacted. So Facebook's excuse that they can't delete data at their scale is probably not just PR speak. For them there is no downside to keeping data besides a minority of their userbase complaining. Meanwhile the downside to deleting data is potentially huge and a mistake would be nonrecoverable. I wouldn't expect them to start deleting data anytime soon unless legally required to do so. I do agree that the verbage used on their site should more accurately reflect the actions occuring on their backend.

kisielk 15y ago
I agree that deleting data is probably difficult from a data integrity standpoint. However, unless being able to delete data is made a priority the situation is not going to improve. It's a more general problem and certainly not specific to Facebook but unless there is some motivator I don't think a whole lot of engineering effort is going to be put in to it by anyone. From a technology standpoint it seems it's more desirable to just keep throwing storage at the problem and spend time working on ways to store and manage even more data. Data is valuable after all, so the incentive is there to accumulate and process as much of it as possible. That's exactly why we need some form of external stimulus (eg: laws) to force people to work on the problem of how can we be getting rid of data when we need to without breaking everything.
pilif 15y ago
Also for every user who complained that Facebook doesn't delete data, there will be thousands of users who complain that Facebook will not be able to restore accidentally deleted data.
lemming 15y ago
For them there is no downside to keeping data besides a minority of their userbase complaining. Well, that and violatng the laws of some of the countries in which they operate.

kisielk 15y ago

I agree that deleting data is probably difficult from a data integrity standpoint. However, unless being able to delete data is made a priority the situation is not going to improve. It's a more general problem and certainly not specific to Facebook but unless there is some motivator I don't think a whole lot of engineering effort is going to be put in to it by anyone. From a technology standpoint it seems it's more desirable to just keep throwing storage at the problem and spend time working on ways to store and manage even more data. Data is valuable after all, so the incentive is there to accumulate and process as much of it as possible. That's exactly why we need some form of external stimulus (eg: laws) to force people to work on the problem of how can we be getting rid of data when we need to without breaking everything.

pilif 15y ago

Also for every user who complained that Facebook doesn't delete data, there will be thousands of users who complain that Facebook will not be able to restore accidentally deleted data.

lemming 15y ago

For them there is no downside to keeping data besides a minority of their userbase complaining. Well, that and violatng the laws of some of the countries in which they operate.