At the very least, deleting your account means they won't be getting any extra information. Also, it's much harder for people to link you in bad photos and events, and you won't show up in searches, etc.

Just because they have some of your information is no reason to let them get anymore. You gave Facebook your personal information? Fine, you fucked up, live and learn - but have the sense to delete your account now and stop giving them more. They're only getting better at collecting and using private data.

Most people try to counter this by deleting all photos and comments, but still, if what you're suggesting is the reality, then it's only a half-measure.

Does doing that actually work? Sites have backups which I presume would get sold along with the company. I am just not sure if any service (other than maybe the Well) actually deletes stuff when you say to delete it. The TOS for every site can be modified at will, so I wonder if any service guarantees removal.

It certainly doesn't for Facebook. "Deleted" photos remain live for years, probably forever. I imagine that Instragram does the same.

Not true http://arstechnica.com/business/2012/08/facebook-finally-cha...

Can you be held to a TOS that changes after you've deleted your account and stopped visiting a site? Just curious.

I deleted my one photo a while back, and the photo count still says "1". Sometimes, it's better to threaten to stay and delete your data than to leave and disable your account.

This is irrelevant. His two options are: "delete account, some data may still be there", or "don't delete account, all data is still there and more is added".

Is there the option to continue adding data, but make sure the new data are bogus? Poison the well, so to speak. Change personal data, etc. Alter metadata in photos.

Do this for a bit, then close the account.