How Much Of My Personal Data Do Facebook Really Hold?
I was procrastinating on twitter when I bumped into a thread disclosing all the information both google and Facebook hold on you. I know this is a super hot topic at the moment with the Facebook / Cambridge Analytica scandal and also the fast looming introduction of GDPR. I attended a GDPR talk just a few days ago so protection of my personal information has been on my mind since. I thought I’d take a look to see what data of mine is out there and what changes we might see.
The recent Facebook scandal resulted in around 50 million peoples data being leaked and harvested without their permission. Back in 2015, a Cambridge psychology professor called Aleksandr Kogan built a quiz app that linked to individuals Facebook accounts and not only did it collect data from those who took the quiz, it exposed a loophole in Facebooks API. This allowed the app to collect data from the Facebook friends of the quiz takers too. Roughly 270,000 users signed up and took the personality test and ballooning from that 50 million people data was leaked.
If you’re not paying for it, you’re the product
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) replaces the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC and was designed to harmonize data privacy laws across Europe. The enforcement date is fast approaching, 25th May 2018.
I visited Facebook’s full data use policy and decided to focus on the section ‘How I can manage or delete information about me?’. ‘You can manage the content and information you share when you use Facebook through the Activity Log tool. You can also download information associated with your Facebook account through our Download Your Information tool.’
I have seen the Activity Log tool before a so I decided to focus on downloading my Facebook data to see exactly what information was being held. I joined Facebook January 2009, a month before I turned 13, the age you’re supposed to sign up, oops. The download file I was provided with showing all my movements on Facebook in the last 9 years was 378mb. Every like, every scroll, every page visit and video watched was documented and transferred into a downloadable zip file. Considering I probably spend a minimum of an hour a day on the site that’s pretty impressive.
I don’t have any details on my Facebook page that I am worried about being found however I would still like my personal data to stay mine. Don’t we all?
By visiting Ad Preferences > Your Information > Your categories you can even see how Facebook categorize you for advertising. Your birth month, devices you use, household information and user preferences.
It seems everything we do is being recorded these days. Take the amazon Alexa for example, every sentence, task or question you give her is recorded and can be downloaded similar to your movements on Facebook. Think about it, if you’ve had builders in, I wonder what they’re been asking Alexa to say…
Back to GDPR, the biggest noticeable changed in the regulation relate to penalties and consent. A breach of GDPR can be fined up to 4% of annual global turnover or €20 Million (whichever is greater) a giant leap from the previous €500,000.
Along with this, the conditions for consent have been strengthened, companies will no longer be able to use long illegible terms and conditions as the request for consent must be given in an intelligible and easily accessible form. The purpose for data processing must be attached to that consent. Consent must be distinguishable from other matters and use only clear and plain language. It must be as easy to withdraw consent as it is to give it.
Hopefully this will mean we are more aware of the data that is being held about us and what the purpose of collecting the data is. It will also be interesting to see what happens with the enforcement of GDPR in the next few months in relation to our Facebook data files and any options to opt in and out of out data being held.
I guess we just have to accept that the internet is going to continue creating barriers to privacy and be careful what we share. So next time you’re stalking your ex, ticking that op in box or doing a quiz to find your celebrity look-a-like make sure to think about the data trail you’re leaving behind you.
