Facebook to disclose more account data

Law students at an Austrian university have brought about changes in Facebook's data disclosure policies.


In 2011, the law students made a complaint to the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) about the way that Facebook holds information about its users.  The DPC agreed that Facebook was breaching EU data protection law and asked Facebook to make a number of changes.

Facebook has responded with an announcement that users will be able to download ‘an expanded archive' of their Facebook account history, including messages, wall posts and timeline information.  Facebook also states that more categories of information will be available in the future.

Meanwhile, the students (who brand themselves 'Europe vs Facebook') are pressing for even more disclosure, stating that although the social media giant holds 84 categories of information about users, only 39 categories are covered in the downloads released by Facebook.  The group plans to continue its campaign.

More on this story via GigaOm and The New York Times.