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former FB employee here There is a retention policy for every bit of data we store and no data is kept longer than absolutely required! This is also true for b
by throwaway2022 7y ago
former FB employee here
There is a retention policy for every bit of data we store and no data is kept longer than absolutely required! This is also true for backups!
We also anonymize and aggregate data whenever possible!
Some people always bring up that the data still exist in abstract form in ML models...but afaik most/all models were constantly rebuild with fresh data. I can't think of a model that still uses data from let's say 2 years ago.
Sensitive data such as location for example was only kept in encrypted form for a few minutes until the aggregation jobs had processed it. Such data stores were guarded like fort knox with multiple lines of defense!
- tlavoie 7y agoYou would think then, that Facebook would make it easier to actually go and delete old data, rather than forcing the most motivated people to go through hoops such as browser plugins and other scripts. If it doesn't matter to the business, then just give people the option to set a sunset period and have the system do it for them. As a user, I was happy enough sharing pictures of cats and nature hikes, but there was zero value to me in keeping any of it. With all the obvious, public screw-ups, I took the nuclear option and deleted my account.