Does submitting a FOIA request make any of that information public?
Would I have to submit a FOIA request to all agencies to get a comprehensive list of my information?
I personally think that this should be required for private businesses as well. I would like to see all information Google, Amazon, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc has about me, I think I should have the right to know that information too.
I seem to remember that companies may be required to show you their data about you under European privacy laws (which are much stricter than in the US). There was a story a while ago of someone submitting such a request to Facebook and getting back a PDF file containing hundreds of pages.
We need more of this. People have the right to know. I'm sure much of this data comes from them purchasing it from other sources (companies that go out of business, LexisNexis, other "partners"). Actually I think people should also have the right to request that companies delete this data permanently, but good luck getting that bill passed.
I wonder what if the percentage of people who closed their Facebook account spiked after receiving this information.
I've built data-mining / warehousing systems for companies before, if I didn't do it they would fire me and someone else would build it. Consumer protection and privacy laws are important and lacking, just my opinion of course.
I wonder if they have a file on me, even though I don't use facebook and a lot of blocking tools. Anyone tried? Not even sure how to request the data, when you have no account .
Friends and family install Facebook mobile app, all of their contacts are sent to facebook which includes your phone number and email addresses. More data is gathered from other random sources online. Possibly even pictures from your college or mugshots.
Just imagine the data that was taken from the people who installed that LinkedIn "send all of your email through us" app.
I've heard that Facebook create ghost profiles based on things like known contacts (contact sync by a user) of users, so probably. What they'd use that for is less clear, although I assume their legitimate reason is for making better recommendations to new users and maximising early engagement (I seem to recall they have research papers on that topic).
Would I have to submit a FOIA request to all agencies to get a comprehensive list of my information?
I personally think that this should be required for private businesses as well. I would like to see all information Google, Amazon, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc has about me, I think I should have the right to know that information too.