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Re:Getting my personal data out of Facebook by kelsolaar on Monday May 20, 2019 @07:25AM (#19959273)
What you are asking for does not seem unreasonable, quite the opposite. What exactly are they afraid of?
Re:Getting my personal data out of Facebook by mikejb on Monday May 20, 2019 @08:34AM (#19959719)
> What exactly are they afraid of?

Exposing the level of detail in the data accumulated.

This starts at "opened the messenger app at this location on this date&time" and goes to "visited this Facebook-unrelated website on these times". Having to provide all of this data exposes the detailed profile they're getting on people.

Re:Getting my personal data out of Facebook by qxcbr on Monday May 20, 2019 @08:35AM (#19959729)
They are only getting what you are giving to them.

If you decide to browse the web without uBlock Origin or if you decide to use Android, you know what you're being exposed to.

Re:Getting my personal data out of Facebook by mikejb on Monday May 20, 2019 @08:51AM (#19959821)
> If you decide to browse the web without uBlock Origin or if you decide to use Android, you know what you're being exposed to.

Time to step out of the bubble of tech-savvy people and talk to everyday users. It's unrealistic to assume everybody understands technical consequences, and it's unreasonable to require everybody to do so. That's why there is regulation. This applies to all fields, including medicine, food, and IT.

Re:Getting my personal data out of Facebook by jdormit on Monday May 20, 2019 @08:38AM (#19959744)
This is almost certainly not true for the majority of consumers.
Re:Getting my personal data out of Facebook by dmitriid on Monday May 20, 2019 @09:08AM (#19959929)
1. No, you don't know what you're exposed to. There are multiple ways to get data on you regardless of uBlock Origin or non-Android OSes.

2. No, it doesn't matter if you use Android (what does using Android have to do with Facebook?) or not, Facebook can and will collect info on you through other means: analytics, logins, sharing etc.

3. You have very little to no idea of how pervasive tracking is especially in the case of large social platforms that everyone integrates with.

Re:Getting my personal data out of Facebook by ncallaway on Monday May 20, 2019 @04:47PM (#19965018)
> If you decide to browse the web without uBlock Origin or if you decide to use Android, you know what you're being exposed to.

This is just clearly and verifiably false for the vast majority of users who browse the internet.

Re:Getting my personal data out of Facebook by chuckgreenman on Monday May 20, 2019 @09:56AM (#19960332)
I'd agree that everyone on HN knows what they are getting into, but we're not an accurate cross section of humanity to be fair.
Re:Getting my personal data out of Facebook by RodgerTheGreat on Monday May 20, 2019 @11:20AM (#19961263)
I think that even within a relatively tech-savvy audience, most people don't realize both the extent of the data facebook may be gathering and the implications of facebook hoarding this information and turning it over (intentionally or accidentally) to untold third parties at some point in the future. Lots of information is harmless... until it isn't.

Consider, for example, giving your genetic material to a company that researches genealogy. Mostly harmless fun. That company is later quietly purchased- along with its databases- by a medical supplier. Meanwhile, cancer research has found that people with a particular gene sequence are at elevated risk for lung cancer. A partnership between the medical supplier and a medical insurance company means you can be screened for that risk without your knowledge, and suddenly you're screwed.

Even for those who don't see facebook as a malicious entity, there's considerable evidence that they do not exercise due diligence in storing and securing this information- see, for example, the recent case of leaking an enormous quantity of plaintext passwords via log files.

Enormous risks to individuals exist because the current regulatory environment poses no penalty to private entities for gathering personal information, sitting on it indefinitely, and transferring it to other entities until some purpose is identified. These risks may seem very small, but I believe that is mostly a fault of our collective imagination.

Re:Getting my personal data out of Facebook by NeedMoreTea on Monday May 20, 2019 @08:44AM (#19959777)
Well for a start it would involve not being able to keep denying shadow profiles exist, and the joining up of some not especially well understood programmes. Like being able to connect up all those facebook bugs and third party logins to get large parts of your off Facebook activity.

Then maybe exposing some of the third party quizzes, VPN's, and privacy apps that have poured more into the data vats. Possibly exposing the third party sources they've bought data from - connecting other data you didn't knowingly provide.

Who knows what else. Maybe they're afraid that once the full picture comes out they simply won't have users.

Re:Getting my personal data out of Facebook by netsharc on Monday May 20, 2019 @08:58AM (#19959856)
Someone asked Zuck during the congressional hearings about shadow profiles (worded as data about people who don't have Facebook accounts).. he deflected and said something like "I'll get back to you on that.".
Re:Getting my personal data out of Facebook by 3jckd on Monday May 20, 2019 @08:33AM (#19959715)
That they have more than they say that they have (and are allowed to have) to the point where cleaning this up would be a serious engineering effort.

I say this in jest but at the same time I'm concerned this might be true.

Re:Getting my personal data out of Facebook by Spooky23 on Monday May 20, 2019 @12:51PM (#19962323)
They are afraid of people cooking up ways to take the data to fuel competition.

Remember how you could cross post between twitter and FB ages ago? That went away for a reason!

Re:Getting my personal data out of Facebook by rubenverborgh on Monday May 20, 2019 @10:55AM (#19960938)
A precedent, I think.