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The Internet Is In Shock After This Guy’s Post Reveals How Much Facebook And Google Knows About You

Most of us likely have that nagging feeling that all the entertainment and convenience that we get online and take for granted must be paid for somehow. We know that companies like Facebook and Google collect our data, and it gets used to target us better for advertising. So what? I can just ignore the ads anyway, can’t I? I have nothing to hide!

But it goes deeper than that. Much deeper. The Cambridge Analytica Scandal may prove to be the catalyst, the event that finally wakes us up to the ways that we can be manipulated, duped and held to ransom for the sheer amount of data that is held about us. This scandal has opened the door for a wider discussion about data collection and its often nefarious uses, and it is leading many people to confront some uncomfortable truths.

Irish IT expert Dylan Curran started a Twitter thread recently, which has since gone viral, in which he exposed the extent of Facebook and Google’s Data archives on him. “The Facebook archive was 600mb, roughly 400,000 Word documents,” he wrote in New Statesman. “The Google archive was 5.5gb, roughly 3m Word documents.”

That is a shitload of data. Facebook’s dump includes all of your sent and received messages, login locations, and even non-Facebook-related text messages and phone call history. Facebook are the “drug addicts of data, squeezing every last drop from the needle before they move on to the next one,” Curran said.

Google appears to go even further. They keep track of everything, even searches and emails that you have deleted. In fact they almost certainly know more about you then you do yourself.

This data builds a complete picture of us, and can be used against us in countless ways. While you may think you have nothing to hide, do you really want somebody reading your messages and emails? Looking at your photos and videos? Knowing exactly where you were at specific times? Imagine one day you are running for office, or you have a jealous ex. Perhaps you know a little too much about shadowy government operations and they want to blackmail you. With this data, they can. And we have willingly offered up all this about ourselves, in exchange for the convenience and fun these services can provide.

Edward Snowden called it “an exquisite breakdown using real-life examples of how @Facebook and @Google exploited your trust to quietly create a decade-long dossier of your most private activities. With a bonus: how to download a copy of your own.”

So yes, these things that are ostensibly provided for ‘free’ are, of course, not free at all. We all knew this before, but now we know exactly the price that we are paying. Are they worth it? You be the judge.

Dylan Curran has become a sort of a whistleblower online, starting a Twitter thread that exposes Google and Facebook’s use of our data

Dylan was shocked that this is news to people

And he’s planning to continue to spread the word

People had some legit questions

Others seemed a bit shook

Some just had a good laugh

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James is a Bored Panda reporter who graduated with a BA in Peace And Conflict Studies and an MA in African Affairs. Before Bored Panda, he was an English teacher and also travelled a lot, doing odd jobs from beer-slinging to brickie's labourer and freelance journalism along the way. James loves covering stories about social and environmental issues and prefers to highlight the positive things that unite us, rather than petty internet squabbles about fictional characters. James is the grumpy, contradictory one who thinks that Bored Panda, due to its large audience, has a social responsibility to inspire and inform its readers with interesting issues and entertaining, well-researched stories. Let's do our bit to make our little corner of the internet a smarter, more truthful and less angry place!

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Bored Fox 6 years ago

This was not a surprise for me. I have always known that everything I do online and offline will be stored somewhere. I just wonder why the cops have not yet come to get me because I have googled plenty of information about various recreational drugs (even though I have only used alcohol), I have found and read information how to make bombs and I have downloaded huge amounts of pirated anime, porn and movies when I was younger. With my search history I would probably be a huge criminal.

40points

Maria Myrvold 6 years ago

Same here, I seriously do not understand the hype. It's not like they hide it. You visit one website with wedding dresses (random example) and for the next 3 weeks half the adds they show you are somehow related to weddings, so how can you miss those queues??? As for "incriminating" data, I think they don't 'rat us out' for customer satisfaction, cause if they did some smarties woulda found or created an alternative.

13points

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jenna 6 years ago

You made yourself an easy target :)

0points

Daria B 6 years ago

Downloading pirated stuff might be a problem, but for other things you mentioned, I think it's harmless because you just searched for info. You didn't actually get in touch witj the dealers and terrorists. (Or so it seems...?)

0points

Maria Focsa 6 years ago

The only thing this scandal exposes is the depth of human stupidity. You are using a FREE product which requires huge resources to run, to be developed, etc. Where did you think the money came from? This post itself has 160 FACEBOOK SHARES. How many of "outraged" ask themselves what data is boredpanda collecting when commenting.

22points

Cosmin Ionascu 6 years ago

I was just about to say the same thing, but then I saw your comment. Spot on mate, spot on! My guess is that a lot of people think they are entitled to use Google's services for free and that's the reason for all this outrage at the collected data. Plus there is a very very simple solution for this. Stop using those services. Stop searching the Internet using Google, stop watching videos using Youtube, stop posting on Facebook, buy a regular a*s phone or don't create a Google Account in order to access the Play store and so on. People want their data deleted but they STILL want to use these services :)) You know what would be funny, to see all the outraged people if Google and/or Facebook would add a monthly subscription fee in order to use their services; and considering the amounts of money they are making from adds, that would be a hefty fee.

5points

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