Facebook could face €100,000 fine for holding deleted data

[Guest]

Facebook could face a fine of up to €100,000 ($139,000) after an Australian law student discovered that the social networking site held 1,200 pages of personal data about him, much of which he had previously deleted.

Max Schrems, 24, requested a copy of his data after attending a lecture hosted by Facebook's chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg whilst he was on an exchange program at Santa Clara University in California. He eventually received a CD from the social networking giant, and was shocked to find information through his three years of having an account despite having deleted a majority of the information.

Among the 1,200 pages of data were rejected friend requests, information regarding incidences where he had removed friends from his list and his entire conversation history. Also included were images that he had removed tags of himself from, every event he had attended and every event he never responded to, poked and email addresses of people he'd corresponded with.

"I discovered Facebook had kept highly personal messages I had written and then deleted, which, were they to become public, could be highly damaging to my reputation," said Schrems in an interview yesterday. He further commented that by keeping hold of the data Facebook was behaving much like the CIA or KGB. "Information is power, and information about people is power over people. It's frightening that all this data is being held by Facebook."

Having reviewed the data, Schrems has lodged 22 separate complaints with the Irish data protection minister, which is due to start its first audit of Facebook next week. A spokesperson for the commissioner has confirmed its officers will be investigating the alleged breaches raised by Schrems as part of the audit. If they are found guilty of breaching data protection laws, they could face a fine of up to €100,000.

A spokesperson for Facebook said in a statement, "Facebook provided Mr Schrems with all of the information required in response to his request. He further commented that they were happy to answer any questions asked of by the Irish data protection authorities.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/45966-facebook-could-face-100000-fine-for-holding-deleted-data.html

 

[yorro]

Can the data be accessed publicly?

 

[SammyJames]

yorro said:
Can the data be accessed publicly?

That is a good question. I would like to know the answer myself. I once had a Facebook account that I also "deleted." I put that in quotes now because with this revelation, it makes ME wonder whether "deletion" means truly reprocessing that data -- or just offloading it onto a different drive. Or whatever. Who knows?

The point is that Facebook, created by a couple of guys who lost control over their own invention after some sleazebucket co-opted it, sucks. I will never, ever, EVER use Facebook. It gives me hives to see the stupid "F" Facebook logo on every web site on the planet.

Come to think of it -- maybe I should stop visiting Techspot. There is one of those cute little logos somewhere on this page... maybe Techspot doesn't need my business after all.

 

[RH00D]

Facebook is going to be it's own demise. I'm not one to bash Facebook for the hell of it but they really need to get their privacy act together. Hoarding user data after it's been "deleted" is really bad in so many ways. They aren't even *trying* to respect user's privacy or information. I suppose I won't be giving up standard texting and phone calling very soon and lucky for me it's still a popular form of communication!

 

[Wendig0]

$139,000? Facebook gets fined $139,000 for this, yet God forbid a college student illegally downloads a couple songs, and gets hit with a fine upwards of $600,000. Australian law is going too easy on FB in my opinion. They make $139,000 in a matter of minutes.

 

[Leeky]

$139,000 is the current conversion rate of 100,000 Euro's. The guy is from Australia, but he's suing Facebook in Ireland as the social networking giants legal contacts for Europe are based in Ireland. So its for breaking Irish data protection laws, and will be heard in Ireland, not Australia.

I agree the fine is too light, but you can't just make up a sum of money because the company is a multi-billion dollar empire. The shoe has to fit all parties, big and small.

 

[Croneberg]

The guy is from Austria, not Australia...

 

[tonylukac]

I wish I knew how to get all previous posts from facebook. Seems more like an online diary to me, maybe somewhat useful in some circumstances.

 

[Wendig0]

$139,000 is the current conversion rate of 100,000 Euro's. The guy is from Australia, but he's suing Facebook in Ireland as the social networking giants legal contacts for Europe are based in Ireland. So its for breaking Irish data protection laws, and will be heard in Ireland, not Australia.

I agree the fine is too light, but you can't just make up a sum of money because the company is a multi-billion dollar empire. The shoe has to fit all parties, big and small.

I understand the conversion rates, but I prefer to think in dollars. I also understand that the punishment has to fit the crime, I just wish there were a way for them to actually feel that punishment. Monetary punitive damages should be calculated in percentages (based on total assets perhaps), not maximum fines.

 

[BMfan]

sammyjames said:

yorro said:
Can the data be accessed publicly?

That is a good question. I would like to know the answer myself. I once had a Facebook account that I also "deleted." I put that in quotes now because with this revelation, it makes ME wonder whether "deletion" means truly reprocessing that data -- or just offloading it onto a different drive. Or whatever. Who knows?

The point is that Facebook, created by a couple of guys who lost control over their own invention after some sleazebucket co-opted it, sucks. I will never, ever, EVER use Facebook. It gives me hives to see the stupid "F" Facebook logo on every web site on the planet.

Come to think of it -- maybe I should stop visiting Techspot. There is one of those cute little logos somewhere on this page... maybe Techspot doesn't need my business after all.

You forgot to add that now they putting a stupid Facebook button on phones just so it can be 2 seconds quicker to see if their friends have made him\herself a sandwich.

 

[Jesse]

anyone know how to request one of those CD's full of your data? That would be really interesting to look at.

 

[negroplasty]

Great... that's like fining me 1/100,000th of one cent... fines should be relative, that amount is a joke for a company the size of Facebook.

 

[Burty117]

prismatics said:
anyone know how to request one of those CD's full of your data? That would be really interesting to look at.

I was thinking the same thing...

 

[Trillionsin]

Thats all?

?100,000 ($139,000) huh?

Oh no, I dunno if they can pull through it guys. We should donate to Facebook so they dont go broke.

 

[caravel]

It's hardly surprising... facebook is all about collecting private data and selling it on... as to the fools who use it and wh0re out their personal lives to the lowest bidder:

"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone elses opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation." ~ Oscar Wilde

 

[matrix86]

sammyjames said:
Come to think of it -- maybe I should stop visiting Techspot. There is one of those cute little logos somewhere on this page... maybe Techspot doesn't need my business after all.

Well, if you do that, you might as well just cancel your internet subscription. Because if you stop visiting every site that has one of those, you'll find yourself just staring at your search engine, lol.

 

[aj_the_kidd]

Making data not visible or accessible rather then deleting it is common practice, EVERY BIG company does it. This is one of the risk you face when you upload stupid stuff on Facebook, a PUBLIC SOCIAL NETWORKING site, it could come back to bite you in the ***.

 

[license27kill]

he dumb, actually

does he even know how to hide things in any personal hdd??
y upload something and delete it afterward, i hope he know the fact that what you upload online will be forever online.
i pity this law student..

 

[caravel]

Well, if you do that, you might as well just cancel your internet subscription. Because if you stop visiting every site that has one of those, you'll find yourself just staring at your search engine, lol.

Sadly quite true these days...

One solution - edit /etc/hosts (in windows it's the same. but buried somewhere in "system32") and add the following:

127.0.0.1       www.facebook.com
127.0.0.1       facebook.com

Easier - Firefox + Adblock and Noscript. Adblock the domain and add it to Noscript's "untrusted" blacklist.

 

[TeamworkGuy2]

@ caravel
lol, I already did that about a year ago,
perfect way to make everyone in your house stop using your computer. :grin:
don't forget to add:

127.0.0.1 touch.facebook.com
127.0.0.1 m.facebook.com

 

[learninmypc]

Well, I was going to have a trusted friend help me sign up with facebook, but after reading this thread, no way. I even went thru most of these links http://www.google.com/search?q=how+...g.mozilla:en-US:unofficial&client=seamonkey-a

http://search.komando.com/search?si...t=default_frontend&q=staying+safe+on+facebook

Thanks guys & gals.

 

[Jude]

All of that Internet history is on your computer erase that history and forget about the rest.

Jude

 

[learninmypc]

All of that Internet history is on your computer erase that history and forget about the rest.

Jude

I've turned my FF & SeaMonkey browser history settings off so when I click History>Show all History nothing shows.

 

[humblechap]

100000 is a drop in the ocean for FB. They are making so much money that 100000 is nothing.

 

[learninmypc]

All of that Internet history is on your computer erase that history and forget about the rest.

Jude

What does the History on my pc have to do with the history facebook would have IF I had an account there? I don't think they hack into ones pc to grab your history, yet,at least