In Dutch there is a saying “even a donkey doesn’t bump twice into the same stone”, the moral being that you’re stupid if you try something again and again and expect a different outcome.* I had to think of it when Facebook last week changed everybodies email addresses without asking my, or any other users, permission first.

Over the last few years I have had a double feeling about Facebook. The positive side is that it is a nice way to stay in contact with friends while I’m living abroad. The other side is that you effectively hand all your personal data over to a company that uses it to sell ads. New features of Facebook are intended to sell more ads first and are improvements for the user second. There is a quote “If you’re not paying for it, you’re the product” and it fully applies here.

To a certain extend I learned to live with that. I sighed when I had to update my privacy settings and grumbled a bit when Facebook forced the new Timeline feature on me. But it also got me back in contact with friends far away. There was a nett positive. But now Facebook overstepped the line.

I first wanted to argue that there is a difference between changing the privacy settings, the introduction of the Timeline and changing the email address. In the first two cases you could argue that they are improvements. We now have more control over privacy and it is easier to search old posts. It is still shows your status updates but in a different form or to different people. Changing the email addresses is different because they are actively changing your content.

But the more I wrote, the more I was struggling to make that case. In the end, you post updates on Facebook with a certain expectation: that it will be limited to the public you choose. By changing the privacy settings Facebook went against my wishes. What is the difference with Facebook changing the email addresses? As I was writing, I more and more felt like the donkey bumping into the same stone over and over again. Do I really expect things to change?

I knew all along that the answer is “no”. Later today I’ll delete my Facebook profile. It is a pity to lose contact with friends, but it is also a relief that I won’t bump into the same stone another time.

* As an aside, isn’t this exactly what science is?

Science: bumping into the same stone over and over again
(Source: XKCD)