Facebook Holding Back Personal Data 125
itwbennett writes "Facebook has reduced the amount of personal data it releases to users as required by European Union law. Due to the volume of requests since Europe v. Facebook began its campaign, Facebook is no longer sending CDs to people. Facebook said in a statement that the CD mailout 'contains a level of detail that is less useful for the average user — it is a much rawer collection of data.' Instead, users are now directed to a page where they can download their personal 'archive,' which according to Facebook is a copy of 'all of the personal information you've shared on Facebook.' But rather than the 57 categories of data early data requesters received, the new tool downloads just 22 categories."
Re:But I must give free reign to my inner narcissi (Score:5, Interesting)
In other words, not using Facebook means social isolation
Oh shit, you mean standing up for your ideals might involve some mild inconvenience? Well fuck that!
That's not a particularly worthwhile tradeoff
But if three or four of you do it then your other friends will not be able to rely on Facebook for communication within the group. So they'll start using other mechanisms, and eventually Facebook just fades into the background as 'that thing I can use for communicating with a few of my friends' and their usage starts to drop too and Facebook becomes a passing fad, rather than a dominant communication mechanism. Or you can just say 'well everyone else is doing it' (which, after all, was such a good excuse every other time it was used) and sign up.
Re:Facebook sends CD's? (Score:5, Interesting)
Yeah, I remember debates on Slashdot and other forums 10 and 15 years ago about privacy and such. The mindset then was one of hyper-attentiveness to privacy. Absent legislation, companies didn't need to make any changes, and really, reduced even the expectation of privacy from their users. Then a new generation came onto the internet who never even contemplated a world without all this intrusive technology, and like that, the privacy battle was lost.