Facebook's invasive Beacon advertising platform isn't the only aspect of the company that is raising privacy concerns. According to a story in today's New York Times, the Palo Alto-based outfit has made it dam near impossible for users to delete unwanted accounts, infuriating a lot of those who no longer want their Pokes and wall posts and e-mail addresses broadcast to friends and colleagues online.

It seems those who wish to remove themselves from Facebook's archives must first undertake a Herculean series of tasks ranging from individually deleting every piece of information in their profiles to sending e-mails to Facebook representatives requesting permanent deletion—and even then might not be successful. "It's like the Hotel California," a user who tried for two months to delete his account tells the Times. "You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave."

In fact, it is apparently so difficult to get off the social-networking site that a group, "How to permanently delete your Facebook account," has been set up to provide detailed instructions outlining exactly how to do so. According to the group, achieving permanent deletion is an arduous, four-step process that takes about a week, though some of the people cited in the Times piece were able to delete their accounts only after placing multiple calls to Facebook higher-ups and threatening legal action.

Why would Facebook make it so difficult to leave? The official company line is so that deserters, should they decide to return, will be able to pick up where they left off. More alarmingly, though, it seems like yet another attempt by Facebook to retain valuable demographic information on users that it can sell to advertisers (assuming, of course, the company ever comes up with a way to monetize the information in the first place).

This isn't the first time the Times has had beef with Facebook being less than open about its conduct: A November 2007 blog posting by Louise Story took the site to task for lying about whether its bumbled Beacon advertising initiative would be opt-in.