New York Business Lawyers

Mat McKeon, a interface developer with IBM, has created a telling infographic that demonstrates the “data creep” phenomenon that has gripped Facebook since 2005.  In its 2005 incarnation, Facebook’s Terms of Services and Privacy Agreement/Policy provided a very clear line across which personal and private data was not to be shared.  (Personally identifiable data has generally been interpreted to mean data that can ultimately reveal a person’s identity, with the obvious categories including, name, social security, credit card numbers, addresses, email addresses, etc.)  However, as the site has taken on increasingly personal roles for people, shifting from photo locker and occasional time waster, to a persistent data aggregator and mental infiltrator, it has added vast new functionalities.  And accompanying those changes, there have been massive overhauls of Facebook’s privacy and other obligations as how this data is processed and shared with third parties.

The infographic it is certainly a worthwhile reminder of the fact that we are not alone nor invisible in the 21^st century if we treat platforms like Facebook as an indispensable utility for our daily lives.  It provides a radial chart with pie wedges representing data categories and shaded areas indicating the dissemination of that data to third parties.  While the chart was virtually blank in 2005, meaning there was little dissemination; by 2010 it is almost entirely shaded, meaning virtually no data boundaries exist.  The infographic is based on this blog post by Kurt Opsahl at the EFF.