We Know What You’re Doing… And We Think You Should Stop File this under your social networking privacy reminder of the day. Callum Haywood, an 18-year-old developer from Nottingham England, launched an experiment over the weekend that pulls publicly available data from Facebook updates and categorizes them by type (eg., hangover status, drug status, new telephone number and job rants). The point: to demonstrate that what we might think are private rants and BS sessions with friends can leave a very public data trail of extracurriculars that current and future employers, admissions officers and others can peruse.  Via We Know What You’re Doing: [We Know What You’re Doing] simply queries Facebook’s Graph API and outputs the results. There is nothing on this website that cannot be accessed by anyone else… …People have lost their jobs in the past due to some of the posts they put on Facebook, so maybe this demonstrates why. Efforts have been made to remove any personal data from the results, such as the actual phone numbers, surnames, etc. The data is still easily accessible from the API, the filters have been put in place to protect the site from legal issues. So, just like you should regularly back up your hard drive, remember to check and recheck your privacy status on your social networks of choice. On Facebook, you do that here. Image: Screenshot of We Know What You’re Doing.

We Know What You’re Doing… And We Think You Should Stop

File this under your social networking privacy reminder of the day.

Callum Haywood, an 18-year-old developer from Nottingham England, launched an experiment over the weekend that pulls publicly available data from Facebook updates and categorizes them by type (eg., hangover status, drug status, new telephone number and job rants).

The point: to demonstrate that what we might think are private rants and BS sessions with friends can leave a very public data trail of extracurriculars that current and future employers, admissions officers and others can peruse. 

Via We Know What You’re Doing:

[We Know What You’re Doing] simply queries Facebook’s Graph API and outputs the results. There is nothing on this website that cannot be accessed by anyone else…

…People have lost their jobs in the past due to some of the posts they put on Facebook, so maybe this demonstrates why. Efforts have been made to remove any personal data from the results, such as the actual phone numbers, surnames, etc. The data is still easily accessible from the API, the filters have been put in place to protect the site from legal issues.

So, just like you should regularly back up your hard drive, remember to check and recheck your privacy status on your social networks of choice. On Facebook, you do that here.

Image: Screenshot of We Know What You’re Doing.

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  1. awesomeocelot reblogged this from futurejournalismproject
  2. problemsolver reblogged this from futurejournalismproject
  3. 2starproject reblogged this from futurejournalismproject
  4. maliciastarling reblogged this from futurejournalismproject and added:
    So just another friendly reminder to please check your privacy status. :)
  5. dimwen reblogged this from futurejournalismproject and added:
    So intrusive. But…one of the main reasons I’m picky of sites I join.
  6. summer-ghost reblogged this from bluepeets
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  13. emmanuelnegro reblogged this from misantropo and added:
    Reason # 238593037849265 to avoid Facebook at all cost.
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  25. shewhocollectswatches reblogged this from scrappylittlenugget and added:
    One of the many reasons why I still refuse to get Facebook. But this information is still good to pass around for people...

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