Facebook Refuses To Share Some Personal Data With Users, Calls It A "Trade Secret"

Posted 10/12/2011 at 11:32am | by Brad Chacos

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What makes you, well, you? That’s the kind of question that can keep big-brained philosophers pondering for decades. We’re no Nietzsches here at Maximum PC, so we’ll just report on the facts, thank you very much – and the facts says Facebook thinks part of you actually belongs to them. Well, kind of. Facebook refused to turn over a complete log of the personal data the social network had collected about an activist group’s founder over the years, because apparently, the company considers some of your personal data – such as “Like” history – to be their “trade secrets or intellectual property.”

Not to say that Facebook was stingy with Max Schrem’s request.  They gave a CD containing 800 pages worth of data to the “Europe vs. Facebook” founder when he asked for it, TechDirt reports. But when Schrem realized some tidbits were absent – such as “Like” shares, postings on other users walls, and more – he asked for the rest of the data, and Facebook started throwing Irish law in his face (Facebook’s HQ is in Ireland).

Section 4(12) of the Acts carves out an exception to subject access requests where the disclosures in response would adversely affect trade secrets or intellectual property. We have not provided any information to you which is a trade secret or intellectual property of Facebook Ireland Limited or its licensors.

That’s right – Facebook considers your personal data its intellectual property and trade secrets, even though European law saws any European citizen can request a full log of his or her personal data from any service. To be fair, we can see why a person’s Likes could be marketable material, but is it right to keep the information from the user himself? Facebook also said some of the data couldn’t be shared because it could “only be furnished after disproportionate effort.”

If you’re wondering what kind of data Facebook keeps on you and is actually willing to share, the Europe vs. Facebook website details every group of data it received in response to an information request.