How to find out everything that Facebook *really* knows about you....
Max Schrems, a 24-year-old law student from Vienna, a meticulous
document requester and researcher, is now sitting on a pile of 1,200
pages that comprise his personal-data Facebook dossier.
He secured the data by using a European requirement that entities
with data about individuals make it available to those individuals if
they request it.
After Mr. Schrems made the request, Facebook handed over a CD
containing data that's now fueling 22 complaints that the law student
has filed against Facebook with the Irish Data Protection Commissioner
(according to Facebook, European users have a relationship with the
Irish Facebook subsidiary).
The complaints, which Mr. Schrems began to file in August,
concern the illegality of these charges (for the full set and PDFs of
the filed complaints, go to Kim Cameron?s Identity Weblog):
* Pokes: Retained even after a user removes them.
* Shadow Profiles: Facebook is collecting data about people
without their knowledge, using it to substitute existing profiles and to
create profiles of non-users.
* Tags: Used without specific user consent. Users have to "untag" themselves (opt-out).
* Synchronizing: Facebook is gathering personal data - e.g., via
its iPhone app or the "friend finder" - and using it without the consent
of the data subjects.
* Deleted Postings: Postings that have been deleted showed up in the set of data Mr. Schrems received from Facebook.
* Postings on other Users' Pages: Users can't see the settings
under which content is distributed that they post on other's pages.
* Messages: Messages, including Chat Messages, are stored by
Facebook even after the user deletes them. This means that all direct
communication on Facebook can never be deleted.
News of Schrems legal activities, along with demands for users
own personal dossiers, went viral at the end of last month. Reddit users
stampeded, swamping Facebook with requests for personal data after
going through the Reddit submission?s four-step tutorial on how to do
so.
Here are the steps on how you can request your personal data from Facebook:
1. Open this site: https://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=data_requests
2. Enter your personal information
3. Make a reference to the following law:
"Section 4 DPA + Art. 12 Directive 95/46/EG"
"Section 4 DPA + Art. 12 Directive 95/46/EG"
4. Click on "Send"
Facebook cried uncle, sending an email claiming that it could not comply with the requests within a 40-day period.
Remember how Mark Zuckerberg, in the early days of creating
Facebook, called users dumb f*`ks for trusting him with their private
information?
After 7+ years of The Facebook bloating into a private-data
behemoth (or boondoggle, depending on your attitude about privacy), one
user has finally arisen from the land
of dumb f*`kery to strip the label from his own online persona and instead paste it across the data-gobbling gut of Facebook itself.
of dumb f*`kery to strip the label from his own online persona and instead paste it across the data-gobbling gut of Facebook itself.
Kudos, Mr. Schrems.
If you're on Facebook and want to keep informed about privacy
issues, scams and internet attacks, join the Sophos page on Facebook,
where over 140,000 people regularly share information on threats and
discuss the latest security news.
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