Owning some content includes the right to delete all copies of it.

Pragmatically, this would mean that true ownership of content is near impossible, and only happens when you personally control the data and do not publish it in any way.

Then it doesn't happen on the internet, and you shouldn't expect it. Once you release it onto the net, you get your data copied and stored in ways you can't easily remove. Google archives data, the wayback machine archives data... by this point no internet user should expect anything published publicly to be fully removable.

agree with both of the comments above

ambiguous phrasing. is this "some" more synonymous with "a bit of" or "some kinds of"? Owning a particular chunk of content does not necessarily imply having such a right, but you can control the content to that extent, if you own all copies.

e.g., if i loan my agent my only copy of my manuscript, i believe that I have the right to destroy all copies of it -- the one i loaned him and the one he made illicitly.

if i give my friend a copy because she likes it, I do not have the right to destroy it when I change my mind.

Or if you own the rights to a story, and you publish it, you can't order the people who bought your story to destroy their copies of it after they buy them, but you may still own the copyright.

Publishing on the net must involve an implicit right to copy it, at least partly, since that is how computers view it. Your computer makes a copy on itself of that data. That's part of my problem with people who want to prevent others from copying their pictures, but put them on the web. Seeing them on the web is an act of copying, so it's rather foolish to try to eliminate other copying from a practical standpoint.

Now, I'm not saying that all acts of copying are equivalent. There are things you can do with other people's works that are wrong. But I don't think that you wanting to delete your data means that I am obligated to clear my cache right now.

And how deleted does it need to be to be deleted? Clearing my cache will get rid of it such that I can't get at it, but I believe the data is still on my computer somewhat or might be until it is overridden. They talk about the government being able to get deleted info off of computers. So, am I required to overwrite all of the data.. I believe that would destroy a lot of other data in the process. And they say the only really sure way is to destroy the physical device. And no, I'm not going to smash my computer because someone want sto delete their data they made available to me.

So, you just can't own the data like that once it's been on the web. You can own it in some ways, but not in a delete all copies sort of way.

Assuming this is about jyte, this does not apply, because JanRain owns what is on jyte. Of course, owning is a hard word to define, especially over non-physical content and ideas. Assuming this is about my former account, you did the right thing as you saw fit, I agree with what you have done, and I commend you for it. As for your decision to delete the delete button because it caused you trouble, I must also commend you for that. Frankly, I had no idea that it would cause so much trouble, and if I did, I might not have done it. Then again, it was very much a spur-of-the-moment thing.

your former account? were you here before, breaky?

breakyaneck was my account, wasn't it? and i deleted it? what this is right now is different from what it was, isn't it?

as far as the definition goes, i believe i can use the word "former" in that sense, according to the definitions of merriam-webster online

Well, Vynce, was there anyone you had in mind?

was there anyone i had in mind for what?

did you delete your account? this account seems to be labeled "breakyaneck" and isn't different in any obvious way I can see. I guess I had forgotten that you were briefly gone.

that is true. as for your first question, never mind