On Oct 24, 2011 7:55 AM, "Robert Bonomi" <bonomi@mail.r-bonomi.com> wrote:
You can even download it all and erase yourself
if
you want out.
Don't count on it. You may 'disappear' from public view, but that does not necessarily mean the data is truely 'gone'. Specific example -- if you request a USENET posting to be removed, all they do is make it 'invisible' to the world. It is _not_ removed from the databases, or from inernal access/use.
That is a very good point, and one of the things that is being tested now that Buzz is going into archive mode. Users are given the option of backing up their posts on Buzz, and then deleting their Buzz content. Many like myself will just leave it there. It is a year+ of history, and what I posted publicly can stay public. It is supposed to remove all your Buzz content from the service and I believe it includes the content shared only with certain individuals. It does not completely erase it, because I believe email copies of the posts and comments that people had sent to their Gmail accounts will remain with those users. Deleting a product like your Picasa web albums is permanent as far as I know, but I will definitely ask some people on the Picasa team. Deleting your search history and other Dashboard items is supposed to be permanent, but as you pointed out, we are taking Google's word for it. --steve