This is concerning since I had assumed the data contained in 'inactive' accounts would eventually be deleted. I closed my own account in 2011 because I found no benefit to having one. Given how difficult it was to close my account the first time around, I'm now expecting to receive a similar email. Why would they hold onto all this data for years after the account was closed? They're not going to be able to glean anything else from it.
If necessary, I'll pull a Data Protection Act request on these goons.
You certainly fooled yourself in assuming that, it is, at least I thought it was, common knowledge that facebook does not delete a single thing ever they just disable it for user access.
I seems to remember this was exposed a few years back with the introduction of a "past memories" features or something that mistakenly took some of the supposedly deleted content and put it in the spotlight.
They hold onto this data because:
1. You gave them full legal rights to do so by agreeing to their ToS and giving them full ownership of everything ever collected on you by facebook.
2. Exploiting user data is how the make money. (well that and investor story time).
> ... common knowledge that facebook does not delete a single thing ever they just disable it for user access.
That is correct, I remember there even was a presentation video from one of FBs engineers describing exactly that, also that they intended to burn that data to long time storage archival discs (probably already are). I have no time to look for that video but if someone knows what it was called please link to it, it should be somewhere on the youtubes.
A few egregious interracial mano-a-mano "mature" midget porn pics sprinkled with a collage of pre-teen bikini pics (A 12 line python script). And a pre-cooked rant from some Nazi site about negros and bitches and negro bitches was all it took to get me out.
Some concern from family and friends but a "Yea, got hacked, be careful out there" took care of that.
Deactivate is different from delete. They knowingly only show deactivate which keeps the data, the link for delete is not immediately accessible from their site. https://www.facebook.com/help/delete_account
If necessary, I'll pull a Data Protection Act request on these goons.