Facebook Kept 1,200 Page File On 24-Year-Old

StillFaggyAF
StillFaggyAF Members Posts: 40,358 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited December 2011 in The Social Lounge
Facebook retains tons of data on its users, but exactly how much? Apparently, more than enough to fill a volume of "Atlas Shrugged."

A 24-year-old Austrian law student named Max Schrems asked Facebook to send him all the personal data it had on him; according to European privacy laws, anyone with a residence outside North America has the right to see all the personal data a company has on him or her.

Here’s what Facebook sent Schrems: a CD filled with 1,222 PDF pages of data. The filelog, presented in a new YouTube video, included deleted private messages, deleted pokes, deleted relationships statuses, deleted friends, apps that your friends use, old chat conversations, past GPS coordinates, and so on.

That’s a lot of data on a 24-year-old with 234 friends.

"In theory Facebook could read all of Max's Facebook messages," the video narrator says. "The content of these messages might interest advertisers who place customized ads. What Max writes his friends might one day interest the police, or hackers."

Of course, Facebook says it abides by a stringent privacy policy and gives you the option to customize who sees what—but apparently, Facebook itself is not included in the opt-out.

Schrems's findings actually prompted an audit into Facebook’s Ireland operations back in October, though this is the first time the rest of us are seeing the magnitude of information Facebook has on us. Schrems now runs the site Europe Versus Facebook, which tracks his effort to make Facebook more transparent about how it uses personal data. If you're living in Europe—and oh how I wish I were right now—he teaches you how to request for access to all your Facebook data.

Yesterday, Facebook launched Facebook Timeline worldwide, which replaces your Facebook wall with a reverse-chronological "story" of your life. For more, see PCMag's Hands On With Facebook Timeline.

Comments

  • Valentinez A. Kaiser
    Valentinez A. Kaiser Members Posts: 9,028 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 2011
    Allergens wrote: »
    theres no law that says you have to use facebook....stop using the ? and quit ? ...its the ? internet, if you dont know yo ? is being tracked..den log off and commit dat

    .............................

    never had a facebook profile post
  • kingblaze84
    kingblaze84 Members Posts: 14,288 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 2011
    Exactly why I don't use Facebook!!!!!! Tagged.com for the win!!!!!!!!
  • VIBE
    VIBE Members Posts: 54,384 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 2011
    lol nothing to be scared of

    I'm a daily facebooker, not poster much but yeah....
  • BiblicalAtheist
    BiblicalAtheist Members Posts: 15,668 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 2011
    They would have to be complete idiots not to retain all that information.
  • BarryHalls
    BarryHalls Members Posts: 4,310 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 2011
    Allergens wrote: »
    theres no law that says you have to use facebook....stop using the ? and quit ? ...its the ? internet, if you dont know yo ? is being tracked..den log off and commit dat

    The problem with this statement is that Facebook has become a part of society. I know somebody that use to interview job applicants and they had to ask for their Facebook pages. I guess Facebook is part of their background checks but if you didnt have one, you were automatically somebody who had something to hide. If you did have one, you would have to rush onto your computer after the interview to erase all the unprofessional ? you got on your page.

    Im a DJ and I dont have Facebook but I've been turned down some gigs since they didnt like the fact that I didnt have a Facebook page. I gotta start my own page tho but you wouldnt catch me on their always updating my status like these other ass clowns that say "Headed to the movies" "Movie parking lot is crazy!" "walking to the movie ticket booth" "Purchased my movie tix!" "Tix has been ripped" "walking to movie concessions" "Bought sour patch kids" "Got my seat! CANT WAIT!" "movies telling me to turn off phone but how can I update?!" "Movie sucked. Heading home" "Just got home.uggghhh!" "Taking a ? " "brushing my teeth" "goodnight facebookers!"

    ? ALL THAT!
  • sniperk
    sniperk Members Posts: 1,562 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 2011
    What people don't realize is that EVERYTIME you log on to the internet, ALL of your actions are tracked already.

    Do some research... Bill Clinton already signed a bill about this into law years ago.
  • sniperk
    sniperk Members Posts: 1,562 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 2011
    sniperk wrote: »
    What people don't realize is that EVERYTIME you log on to the internet, ALL of your actions are tracked already.

    Do some research... Bill Clinton already signed a bill about this into law years ago.

    EDIT: It was actually an NSA covert operation called the "Clipper" project under the Clinton Administration.
  • Pond Scum
    Pond Scum Members Posts: 2,888 ✭✭✭
    edited December 2011
    sniperk wrote: »
    EDIT: It was actually an NSA covert operation called the "Clipper" project under the Clinton Administration.

    clipper chip was an utter failure because of the privacy issues. if clinton did that today he would just call it anti-terrorism and nobody would give a ? .

    also part of the problem with the way facebook deals with data is that they never ever delete it. even if you close your account they keep your info, pictures, messages, contacts, addresses, locations and all that ? . it's not illegal it's just really ? up.

    a lot of kids nowadays have these accounts and have no idea how all this info they're sharing is going to affect them later in life when they hopefully get smart enough to be embarrassed by some of it.
  • CapitalB
    CapitalB Members Posts: 24,556 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 2011
    i aint trippin...
    before they come for me.. its go be millions upon millions gettin hemmed up..
    by that time i should know the jig is up... and act accordingly. hahaha
  • Fazeem_Blackall
    Fazeem_Blackall Members Posts: 4,216 ✭✭
    edited December 2011
    Allergens wrote: »
    theres no law that says you have to use facebook....stop using the ? and quit ? ...its the ? internet, if you dont know yo ? is being tracked..den log off and commit dat
    sniperk wrote: »
    What people don't realize is that EVERYTIME you log on to the internet, ALL of your actions are tracked already.

    Do some research... Bill Clinton already signed a bill about this into law years ago.
    sniperk wrote: »
    EDIT: It was actually an NSA covert operation called the "Clipper" project under the Clinton Administration.
    binstar wrote: »
    clipper chip was an utter failure because of the privacy issues. if clinton did that today he would just call it anti-terrorism and nobody would give a ? .

    also part of the problem with the way facebook deals with data is that they never ever delete it. even if you close your account they keep your info, pictures, messages, contacts, addresses, locations and all that ? . it's not illegal it's just really ? up.

    a lot of kids nowadays have these accounts and have no idea how all this info they're sharing is going to affect them later in life when they hopefully get smart enough to be embarrassed by some of it.

    All this and then some...
  • get1cuz
    get1cuz Members Posts: 58
    edited December 2011
    read the title and thought: "bet she was hot"
  • Madbeats
    Madbeats Members Posts: 544
    edited December 2011
    That's why Fb is like a bunch of creepers and stuff. I don't like it.