[Infowarrior] - Google, Facebook, Square Off Over Who Owns Your Personal Data

[Richard Forno]

(c/o DanO)


> <http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2008/05/facebook-google.html>
>
> Facebook, Google Square Off Over Who Controls Your Data (Hint: It's  
> Not You)
> By Scott Gilbertson EmailMay 16, 2008 | 9:29:26 AMCategories:  
> communities
>
> facebook.jpgHere's a shocker for you: Facebook doesn't want to give  
> up its tight-knit control of your personal information. The company  
> has officially banned Google's recently-launched Friend Connect  
> service, which would allow you to pull your personal data out of  
> Facebook and use it elsewhere.
>
> Considering that the only value Facebook actually has is all the  
> data you've entered into it, it shouldn't really surprise anyone  
> that the site doesn't want to hand over control of that information,  
> particularly to a competitor like Google.
>
> And if that means denying Facebook users the right to share their  
> own information with other networks, so be it. This isn't really  
> about your privacy, after all. This is about Facebook's data versus  
> Google's data.
>
> Don't believe it? Read Facebook's terms of service (TOS).
>
> Facebook's TOS make no bones about who controls your data. The  
> answer is: not you.
>
> It gets a little confusing because there's the TOS you the user  
> agrees to, which is fairly benign, but then there's the Developer  
> TOS, which, while it doesn't directly apply to you, does end up  
> affecting what sort of tools you can use on Facebook.
>
> And Facebook's beef with Google Friend Connect centers around those  
> Developer restrictions. Here's the relevant section of the Facebook  
> Developer TOS:
>
>    You may not store any Facebook Properties in any Data Repository  
> which enables any third party (other than the Applicable Facebook  
> User for such Facebook Properties) to access or share the Facebook  
> Properties without our prior written consent.
>
> In other words, once a user has entered something in Facebook - a  
> list of friends, a blog post, a status update, etc - it's  
> effectively stuck in Facebook, since developers are not allowed to  
> store that information outside of Facebook.
>
> By limiting what developers can do with your data Facebook in turn  
> limits your ability to pull out the things you put into Facebook.  
> This is why we've always referred to Facebook as a black hole.
>
> When Facebook does make concessions and allow you to move data off  
> the site, it's always on Facebook's terms - like the announced, but  
> not yet launched, Facebook Connect.
>
> "We're disappointed that Facebook disabled their users' ability to  
> use Friend Connect with their Facebook friends," a Google spokesman  
> told Wired.com.
>
> But don't go getting the idea that Google is really all that  
> concerned with freeing up your data. Google, like every other site,  
> wants a slice of the pie. If Google helps you gain a little control  
> at the same time, consider it a happy coincidence, not a motivating  
> factor.
>
> What's galling to many is that Facebook still tries to hide its  
> blatant control complex behind the guise of protecting your privacy.
>
> Any time Facebook shuts down a service like Google Friend Connect it  
> brushes off complaints with warm, fuzzy words about keeping you  
> safe. This time the excuse was that Friend Connect "doesn't respect  
> the privacy standards our users have come to expect."
>
> Yet Facebook's own failed Beacon ad platform effectively showed  
> that, deep down, Facebook doesn't care about your privacy, it cares  
> about making money off your data. And to do that it has to make sure  
> it keeps that data locked up on the site. Letting Google siphon your  
> info off to other social sites isn't going to help line Facebook's  
> coffers.
>
> In this particular case Facebook claims that its issue with Friend  
> Connect is that there's no way to turn Friend Connect widgets off  
> from within Facebook. However, the reason for that is that Facebook  
> doesn't offer such features in its developer API, so there's no way  
> for Google to add that feature. If Facebook were really concerned  
> about your privacy it could simply add in the API feature, and maybe  
> it will at some point. But for now it strikes us as an awfully  
> convenient way of keeping your data locked out of Friend Connect.
>
> Unfortunately for Facebook, it seems unlikely the site will be able  
> to maintain that control for much longer. As Robert Scoble points  
> out in his take on the Google-Facebook scuffle, tools like Minggl  
> are already making an end run around Facebook's restrictions by  
> simply screen-scraping what gets loaded into your browser. As far as  
> I can tell there's no way Facebook can stop Minggl, short of suing  
> the company out of existence.
>
> But this isn't just a case of Facebook being overly restrictive and  
> forbidding you from taking your data with you when you leave the  
> site. While much of Facebook's supposed concern for your privacy may  
> be a desire to protect its own interests, it isn't all smoke and  
> mirrors.
>
> The issues surrounding your ability to control your data are far  
> more complex than that.
>
> Before you can really address control of your data, you have to  
> first decide what actually is your data. As we've pointed out  
> before, how much of your data can be said to be "owned" by you is  
> debatable. Obviously your Facebook Wall posts, updates and personal  
> notes are yours and should be available for export, but what about  
> your friends and all the connections you have on Facebook?
>
> Just because you and I might be connected on Facebook, does that  
> give you the right to export my e-mail and contact info and take it  
> with you where ever you go? You didn't enter that data into  
> Facebook, I did. So what gives you the right to take it with you  
> when you leave?
>
> How you answer that question will more or less determine who you see  
> as the good guy in this latest scuffle between Facebook and Google.
>
> That's the real take away from this latest tussle: If you're looking  
> for a truly open, distributed social network that works across the  
> web, don't look to existing sites for help.
>
> If we want an open social web, we're going to have to build it  
> ourselves, using technologies that no one company controls.