I did something quite horrible today. Something I'd recommend you do too. I went and requested all my data from Facebook. I set my account up in September 2007, so Facebook unleashed the 10 years worth of data it had about me and it was scary. I barely had time to scan it all, but to give you an example, here is all the info Facebook holds relating to one single photo I uploaded:
Date of image: Wednesday, May 31, 2017 at 10:42pm UTC+01
| Taken | 1492604403 |
|---|---|
| Camera Make | OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. |
| Camera Model | VG170 |
| Orientation | 1 |
| Exposure | 1/250 |
| F-Stop | 80/10 |
| ISO Speed | 80 |
| Focal Length | 470/100 |
| Modified | 1492604403 |
| Upload IP Address | XXX |
How does it know this much?! More concerning, what does it do with it?!
So when reading about a Netflix tongue-in-cheek tweet about 53 of its users, I got the usual shudder of fear. It's likely they were reacting to a very clever yearly Spotify campaign, which crunches its users' data to tell funny and current stories. Not only does this require massive data analysis it also requires some clever data mining.
However, when put in context of Netflix successfully lobbying against The Video Privacy Protection Act, which stopped Netflix from sharing viewer data with Facebook, it's kind of terrifying.
GDPR comes into effect in May 2018. We all know data is the coal that fuels the tech giants of the world. So what's going to feed the data beast with these restrictions in place? Or will the tech giants of the world find ways to circumvent the slightly grey wording of the regulations, with the best lawyers money can buy?
I know one thing, the GDPR has been cited as a way of increasing consumer awareness of their data usage, and it's certainly done this for me. So I recommend you go and click here to find out what data Facebook has on you. And going forward every time you sign up with your email, considering what other information you may be passing on forever...
This is nakedly dystopic messaging from a secretive internet video company that collects reams of data from 109 million subscribers — and rarely gives us a peek behind its curtain. I mean, jeez, Netflix is offering tinsel-dusted gruel on its platform and mocking people who consume said gruel every single day (for 18 days). As if there's a "correct" way to watch a mildly uplifting Christmas movie in an era when death by nuclear hellfire seems more assured with each passing second.
http://mashable.com/2017/12/11/netflix-a-christmas-prince-tweet-privacy/#u4F6vwkhuaqZ
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