Your Facebook Data – Who Has It?

During a business conversation with a colleague, the topic of Facebook data came up. Did you know that Facebook users have the ability to download their profile information? At first I thought this was a wonderful idea. What if I lost valuable photos on my computer? If I had them uploaded to Facebook, I could download them. Or, what if I had other content such as Notes, lists of Facebook friends or other special things on my profile – I could just download my profile data and I’d be able to keep it.

The problem with this, she told me, is what’s included in the download. What I found most interesting was how I was being tracked for advertising purposes. For example, did you know that…

  • Ads Clicked – this information shows a list of dates, times and titles of ads you clicked.
  • Ad Topics – this is a list of topics that you may be targeted against based on your stated likes, interests and other data in your timeline.

The European Government has begun to build regulations that would protect consumers’ privacy when using social media and visiting websites, including tracking methods and cookies. The EU Cookie Law, or e-Privacy Directive, is a law which applies to how cookies and similar technologies are used to store information on a person’s equipment such as a computer or mobile device. The law goes into great detail about cookies and personal data; confidentiality of Ccmmunications and spyware; information to be provided; responsibility for providing the information and obtaining consent; exemptions from the right to refuse a cookie; and wishes of subscribers and users.

Large websites, especially those that provide free services, make money by tracking and targeting users and delivering targeted ads. The European Government has been trying to get Facebook to comply with the EU privacy laws for quite some time. The US is far behind the Europeans when it comes to this type of online privacy.

For more in-depth information about this subject, you can read The New York Times article, entitled “Facebook Offers More Disclosures to Users” and  C|Net’s article, entitled “Facebook Profile Download Tool Comes Up Short.”

What do you think?