Hacker News Reader

Comment by Irishsteve | Hacker News Reader

If I remember correctly you ran the risk of having your Facebook account closed if you made a freedom of information request via it's Irish subsidiary for all that paper work linked to your account.

Therefore I'd imagine a similar response will be generated by FB if they are forced to comply with the latest complaint.

View on HN

if you made a freedom of information request

Clarification, in Ireland "Freedom of Information" is for government bodies. It's "Data Protection" law (which is the personal data of you held by anyone, government & private companies)

Thanks!

Do you actually have a link to that? I don't recall reading that Facebook would close your account if you requested information about yourself. That seems really punitive.

I think it's meant to be punitive, or maybe preventative. Basically you are making yourself more expensive for them than you are worth. They probably reasoned that if you've made this request once, you're much more likely to make it again.

Damn. I should've asked for it before I deleted my account then, just to piss them off.

If they still store information on you, you are still entitled to see it. (Knowing Facebook, they probably still have the information). If you are not in US or Canada, you are covered by the EU law and you are legally required to get a copy of all personal information they hold on you.

Correction: they're legally required to give it to you - if you ask.

Out of sheer curiousity, does anyone know the options available to Canadians? I know that we have a Privacy Act that is designed to get information out of governmental institutions, but how would a Canadian citizen go about finding what FaceBook has on them?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com