An Australian student is going after Facebook for holding on to data that is no longer on his profile. Max Schrems, a 24-year-old Australian law student, requested a copy of all his Facebook data be sent to him. Facebook complied and as the Guardian writes he was “shocked when he eventually received a CD from California containing messages and information he says he had deleted from his profile in the three years since he joined the site.” As Schrems explains, nobody is looking at the data, but he’s more concerned about the what-ifs. He continues, “‘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.’ By holding on to data its users assumed was deleted, Facebook was acting like “the KGB or the CIA.'”
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