As is said by others, deactivating Facebook only puts the account into hibernation. When a Facebook account is deactivated, one only needs to log into the account again to reactivate it.

Deleting the account however, permanently deletes the account to the point it cannot be logged into again (although Facebook will probably still retain your data on their servers). This is very difficult to do, and requires you to contact Facebook directly. Oddly enough, there is a Facebook page that tells you how to do it at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=16929680703

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