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Zen Master Ummon had some sage advice. If you’re going to commit to anything, give it your all.

I’ve been watching with great amusement the Facebook Protest that is supposed to convince Mark Zuckerberg to give us our privacy back. The protesters plan to avoid logging into Facebook on June 6th, 2010.

What happens on June 7th? I guess they all log back in again.

What effect is this supposed to have? Beats me.

In fact, I think it sends a pretty clear message contrary to what they intend: It doesn’t matter how bad Facebook privacy gets and how angry it makes them, they’ll still come back.

If you’re looking for a cause that doesn’t wobble, check out the guys who are quitting Facebook on May 31st, 2010. And if you’re aware of anyone else who is taking swift, definitive action to send Facebook the message that we’re mad and we’re not going to take it anymore, please leave a comment so the rest of us can stand (or sit) with them, too.

In the hubbub over the past few days about the latest Facebook privacy problems, I came across a comment on a blog post in which the visitor proudly declared he or she had made a commitment to Facebook suicide.

And when was everyone planning to drink the privacy Koolaid? October 10th, 2010.

Let me state the obvious: joining a Facebook group to commit suicide means you’re still on Facebook. Over the months you’re waiting to do your profile in, Facebook will presumably continue to make things worse, sharing more and more of your data with god-knows-what third parties and the general public.

The other problem with the sometime-in-the-semi-distant-future suicide pact is that timing is everything. When you’re training your puppy not to piddle on the rug, or training your child not to hit his siblings, you know that consequences not immediately delivered are pointless.

If you want Zuckerberg to stop chewing on your privacy, do something now.

I’ve noticed a disturbing trend among Facebook users: the myth that Facebook does not allow you to delete your account, and only allows you to deactivate it.

Deactivating your Facebook account does little to protect your privacy; while it may keep you from posting those drunken photos from future company Christmas parties, your data remains intact. It’s difficult to tell, and I can’t test it without opening an account, but the unwritten message is that data posted on others’ walls, groups, and fan pages will still be associated with your name unless you permanently delete the account. If you’re quitting Facebook to protect your reputation with future employers, for example, this doesn’t cut it.

Read the relevant sections of the privacy policy for yourself:

Deactivating or deleting your account. If you want to stop using your account you may deactivate it or delete it. When you deactivate an account, no user will be able to see it, but it will not be deleted. We save your profile information (connections, photos, etc.) in case you later decide to reactivate your account. Many users deactivate their accounts for temporary reasons and in doing so are asking us to maintain their information until they return to Facebook. You will still have the ability to reactivate your account and restore your profile in its entirety. When you delete an account, it is permanently deleted from Facebook. You should only delete your account if you are certain you never want to reactivate it. You may deactivate your account on your account settings page or delete your account on this help page.

Limitations on removal. Even after you remove information from your profile or delete your account, copies of that information may remain viewable elsewhere to the extent it has been shared with others, it was otherwise distributed pursuant to your privacy settings, or it was copied or stored by other users. However, your name will no longer be associated with that information on Facebook. (For example, if you post something to another user’s profile and then you delete your account, that post may remain, but be attributed to an “Anonymous Facebook User.”)

Deleting your account is fairly straightforward, but it does take 14 days to take effect. During that time, you must not log back in, even by accident, or you’ll have to start over.

It seems one of the ways Facebook continues to secure its user base of over 400 million is simply by making the option to leave so obscure that few know it exists. You may be free to leave at any time, but first you have to find the exit.