Facebook might face a €100,000 fine for keeping users’ deleted data

With the good comes a whole lot of bad. There’s always the downside to most good things out there. Take the Internet, for example. On one end, it serves as a good resource. You literally have a wealth of information right at your fingertips, which you can access, anytime, anywhere where there’s an Internet connection. Aside from that, there are the social networking sites like Facebook that let you connect with people who you might have already lost touch with. And then there are the cons: email scams from people trying to extort money from others, identity theft, and privacy issues. The last of these problems mostly has to do with email services, which was an issue with Virgin Media earlier this year when they allocated previously used email addresses to new broadband customers, and social networking sites like Facebook.

Most people I know and work with already have Facebook accounts. They use it to message friends, upload photos of their latest trips and of their families, post links of things they’re interested in, and so on and so forth. Facebook has overtaken many social networking sites to become the number one in the industry. In fact, it was reported last September that a majority of Brits are already using Facebook and Twitter, with over 57% already active on such sites. This was a marked increase from the 43% of active users recorded in 2010. Aside from individuals, businesses are also taking advantage of the commercial potential of the site to reach out to customers.

Users of the site will have noticed that Facebook has rolled out a lot of updates and changes in privacy options and restrictions in the last couple of years. Obviously, it’s hard to find something that will please or meet the expectations of every user of the site. In particular, there’s one Austrian named Max Schrems who’s a very disgruntled Facebook user who has registered 22 separate complaints with the Irish data protection commissioner.

Schrems had earlier asked Facebook for a copy of his data on Facebook after attending a lecture by a Facebook executive held during an exchange programme at Santa Clara University. He eventually received a CD from the social networking giant that contained 1,200 pages worth of messages and information that he has since deleted from his profile in the three years since he has signed up on the site. Because of the points that Schrems has raised in his complaint, the Irish data protection commissioner’s office confirmed that it will be conducting an audit on Facebook to act on his charges. Facebook could face a fine of up to €100,000 because of Schrems complaints.

Contained in those 1,200 pages were activities that Schrems performed on the site, such as chatting, poking, and friending (and unfriending) people. The document also included a list of everyone he has ever “poked,” as well as a list of the photos were he had untagged himself from.

Schrems spoke up during an interview on the matter, stating: “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.” He added: “I’m not saying there was anything criminal or forbidden there, but let’s just say that, as someone wanting to work in law, there was stuff which could make it pretty impossible for me to get a job.”

Source – The Guardian