Facebook Hording User Data, Even After User Cancels Account

Posted by Anthony LaFauce on January 18th, 2008 3:28 PM

The British Crown is taking a closer look at the way Facebook stores user data. In a report that come across the BBC wires today, Chris Vallance claims that the the UK may be seeking legal action against Facebook unless it finds a better way to manage user data.

The problem arises from what happens after a Facebook user deletes his or her profile. We all know that we give Facebook a disgusting amount of personal data, but we all believed that if you deleted your profile that your data was deleted off the Facebook servers. It isn’t that by deleting your account you fail to remove your information, the problem comes from the information your friends profiles have collected about you.

Facebook has made an official statement regarding the matter stating that privacy is the foremost of Facebook’s concern and that currently all of Facebook’s policies comply with UK law. Facebook reminds users that they have to manually log into a Facebook account and “delete all profile content”

I am lucky, I have very few friends, as for people who have hundreds maybe thousands of friends this task would be near impossible. Privacy is always an issue with social networking and Facebook is treading on thin ice when it comes to this issue. Presently the Information Commissioner’s Office of the UK believes the entire process of deleting user data is too difficult for the standard Facebook user. If Facebook fails to meet the requirements of the ICO some stern legal action could take place.

How many of you out there feel that Facebook is miss handles your personal information? Are any of you scared that the wrong people may have access to your data after you think it has been deleted? Let me know.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 18th, 2008 at 3:28 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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Jonathan Kleiman 8 months ago 1 point
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They dropped the ball big time.

Even ask the apps that e-mail me even though I never added them.

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http://www.probook.ca/

Thomas 8 months ago 1 point
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Absolutely about time someone kicked Facebook into check on this! Facebook think that it is "reasonable" to ask someone to delete every piece of information manually... maybe theres a legal case for RSI there!

At last - A UK Government agency that are doing something _USEFUL_ about protecting our privacy!

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Sabrinah Seaton 8 months ago 1 point
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This is all fair enough, but how much private information do people put out there? I don't consider myself that internet savvy by my DOB is a day out (real friends should know my birth date), I only have my town (London) listed and don't put and bank or work information on there. Anything else they wanted to find out would be easier to get from the electrol role. Surely in this day and age with so many internet crooks on the web and the way we are warned about this in the media people should be wise enough not to put everything on there?

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Jonathan Kleiman 8 months ago 1 point
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Sabrinah: Saying that it's okay to store our private data improperly because you don't tend to post data you consider private is saying very little, especially on a website that flouts its ability to allow users to completely control their privacy/info.

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http://legalintellects.com/