As I recall, no mobile number was required to establish a Facebook account. I have a simple Facebook account I use to communicate with a handful of people. To establish my account, all Facebook required was an email address, my name, a date of birth, etc. No phone number. I complied, uploaded a photo, then sent and received a few messages. I had the "Send a Message" feature, but did not establish a "wall", or "add a friend" features. The other day, I went to Facebook, entered my email address and password as usual, but a page demanding my mobile device number appeared. Claims for this new piece of personal information were to establish that I was human, to prevent spam on Facebook, and in a rather hostile fashion suggested reading Facebook laws where it is stated only one Facebook account is allowed per person so "real" people will "share" with other "real people". Well! How is one to take this? Further insinuating points were included to validate this new demand...but what Facebook does is to welcome us in with the friendly assurance Facebook will always be "free"...encourage us to upload our photos, obtain friends, send and receive messages - then one day face a lock-out with Facebook holding our communications, and photos HOSTAGE until we comply with their new demands!
Excuse me..but a mobile number WAS NOT part of the sign up process. Demanding a mobile device number AFTER we have entered into Facebook membership - having turned over our names, birthdays, GPS locations, IP addresses, photos, and private messages, then subsequently LOCKING us out if we cannot supply a mobile device number months or years later - is surprisingly similar to holding our info and photos hostage with ransom demands in order to release our property back to us. Facebook has recently declared the "rumors" that our photos uploaded to Facebook are no longer our property are untrue. Facebook states the photos are indeed our property which they archive. In fact, Facebook states, we can request to download "archived" information from Facebook to take to another social network competitor if we so choose. Well, I do not see how my photos are still mine when they are being held hostage by Facebook until such time as I provide a mobile telephone number to them to add to their already abundant amount of personal information. I cannot comply with this new demand because I let someone else use my cellphone number when they faced this identical problem. Now, I have no new number with which to provide Facebook to reclaim my account. Are any others here feeling your account has been taken hostage for no apparent reason except Facebook's desire to assign a phone number to every individual member? What will be Facebook's next lockout demand? Social Security numbers? A growing group of intelligent people are beginning to wonder what Facebook is doing with all this information gathering..and for whom?
Back to the mobile device number demand at hand, what are our options? I do have a landline phone but this is not an option to recoup my Facebook account. I could call my wireless provider and request a new number to meet Facebook's demands - but at a price, and extreme inconvenience because I have had my cell number for years. I could make a trip to a store, purchase a go-phone simply to comply with Facebook's demands - but thinking this over, I feel I'm dealing with a kidnapper. What next? Will Facebook begin demanding users meet them in abandoned warehouses with suitcases of money before returning our accounts? Some people only have landline phones. It is obvious the few people who manage Facebook are guilty of discriminating against the population of people who do not own cellphones. Consider the group of people Facebook claims are it's fastest growing membership - that being older people wishing to reconnect with friends from 40 years ago. Surprise Facebook management youngsters..there are actual living members of the Facebook community who do not have cellphones! I know, what a shock! Is that possible? Yes! It is! These people likely have landline phones. Landlines do not factor into your account recovery solutions. Other people may not be able to afford cellphones with the economy suffering as it is, because they prefer to eat, and pay their rent, or mortgage. Is Facebook discriminating against those who cannot afford cellphones? Facebook - you are found guilty of kidnapping, taking hostages, and discrimination. I must say Mark Zuckerburg et. al. - you are digging Facebook's grave.
Edited by Narnia, 18 November 2011 - 03:26 PM.