Facebook will let users check out data files

I’ll show you my personal data file, if you show me yours.

Facebook, seemingly always in trouble for sharing some bit of personal data or another, is trying to calm its critics. And no, it’s not going to stop collecting all the details of our personal lives and matching them to the perfect advertisements. But, it will start letting us see our own data files.

According to the New York Times, Facebook will give users broader access to an archive of data the company tracks including: “photos, posts, messages, list of friends and chat conversations” AND “previous user names, friend requests and the Internet protocol addresses of the computers that users have logged in from.” Which means Facebook remembers more about my past than I do (or want to). 

And if that’s not enough to make you a little squirmy, Facebook is promising more data is on the way.