Facebook – How Long to Wait for Account Enablement

Check out this article for full details: http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-20005556-245.html. Long story short they delete all of the data that can identify you when you delete your account. They do keep other data so they can track bugs but they are rather unclear about what that means.

Here is the important excerpt:

What happens to my data after I delete my account?

According to this Facebook Help Center page all personally identifiable information associated with your account will be purged from Facebook's database if you choose to permanently delete the account. "This includes information like your name, e-mail address, mailing address, and IM screen name," the site says. "Copies of some material (photos, notes, etc.) may remain in our servers for technical reasons, but this material is disassociated from any personal identifiers and completely inaccessible to other users. Facebook also does not use content associated with accounts that have been deactivated or deleted."

I asked a Facebook spokesman why copies would need to be kept at all and for how long, exactly when all traces of the data are gone entirely, and whether any data remain on any servers of partners, and if so for how long? Here is his reply:

When a photo or video is deleted, or when a person deletes his or her account, we quickly delete all of the metadata for the photo as well as any and all tagging and linking information. For all practical purposes, the photo no longer exists, and we wouldn't be able find it if we were asked or even compelled to do so. This is similar to what happens when you delete information from the hard drive of your computer. Technically, the bits that make up the photo persist somewhere, but, again, the photo is impossible to find. It's possible that someone who previously had access to a photo and saved the direct URL from our content delivery network partner (this is different from the Facebook URL) could still access the photo. However, again, the person would have to know the URL, and the photo only exists in the CDN's (content delivery network's) cache for a limited amount of time.

Starting from the beginning, at the Facebook sign up page, there is the following

Facebook requires all users to provide their real date of birth to encourage authenticity and provide only age-appropriate access to content. You will be able to hide this information from your profile if you wish, and its use is governed by the Facebook Privacy Policy.

This takes care of the birthday issue.

For the nickname, there is the following,

Please note that Facebook account names must adhere to the following authenticity standards: Your full first and last name must be listed. Initials cannot stand in place of your full name. Nicknames can be listed if they are a variation of your first or last name, but only in the format "First Name ‘Nickname’ Lastname."

Under Facebook Terms, here is what you need to be aware of

Registration and Account Security

Facebook users provide their real names and information, and we need your help to keep it that way. Here are some commitments you make to us relating to registering and maintaining the security of your account:

• You will not provide any false personal information on Facebook, or create an account for anyone other than yourself without permission.
• You will not create more than one personal profile.
• If we disable your account, you will not create another one without our permission.
• You will keep your contact information accurate and up-to-date.

Knowing this and

• the assumption that disabling accounts are automated but appeals are manual
• the assumption that not entering your contact information accurately lead to this
• the assumption there are many, many, many appeals per day

9 days to even two weeks seems reasonable. Someone I knew was banned but appealed, it took a very long while but a well worded polite email plus some patience led to a renewal. This is not going to work for everyone obviously.

In your case, as noted on this appeal page for deactivated accounts (though not new accounts, I think the same process applies)

"Note that writing in and submitting your ID multiple times will not result in a faster response. Once you submit your initial request, it is placed in a queue and responded to accordingly. We appreciate your patience and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause."

_{There still is information that we need from you to decipher the information further, you said that it is a new account, yet you needed to confirm with a license. This sounds like a re-activation to me. It would be best if you could walk us through your entire process from sign up to roadblock with all relevant links and email correspondences that Facebook sent (REMOVE ALL PERSONAL INFORMATION)}