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I wrote a similar Python script[1] a couple of months ago that crawls the Graph API and downloads all your Facebook notes and photos. I recently started work on the script again, but after today's announcement, I will probably stop development. Oh well. [1]: http://www.github.com/derferman/scrapebook
... I say "back," presuming it's fixed.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
unless you are comfortable giving the new platform access to your inbox, they can't get your data Huh? You receive a link to a zip file, which you then download. Your statement would be pretty FUDly if it weren't so busy being wrong. I am not sure if it will have a list of their names, but without an email address, such a list would be largely useless to any new platform. If your friend also dumps their Facebook data…
>>unless you are comfortable giving the new platform access to your inbox, they can't get your data >Huh? You receive a link to a zip file, which you then download. Your statement would be pretty FUDly if it weren't so busy being wrong. I'm assuming the grandparent is talking about an automated site that imports from facebook by asking for my facebook username and password. This can't work, because the zip link goes…
It was rude, and deliberately so. The parent brazenly said something that was wholly wrong, which was well received with no dissent. If I care about the quality of information on Hacker News it is my duty to call attention to this situation. A downvote is not sufficient.
I either have to copy-paste the link from my e-mail or provide my e-mail address and e-mail password as well
This is email! Forward it to signmeup@newsocialnetwork.com! Or, if you read the link I included, you might conclude that any new social network could create a Facebook application capable of automatically obtaining the same data.
My brashness comes from my amazement at the utter lack of imagination here, combined with the idea that people "really want to leave Facebook." Facebook has been quick to respond to negative publicity. They make a product with impressive uptime, that hundreds of millions of people are glued to. They aren't afraid of anyone leaving.
I don't have access to the tool yet, but if it pulls off all my photos and other content, I'm likely to delete my facebook account.
Some people complain that they can't delete all the data from facebook, and while I get the complaint, that's certainly not a reason to stick around or not delete. If they are saving everything, and I delete my account, at least they can't save anything new going forward.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>>unless you are comfortable giving the new platform access to your inbox, they can't get your data >Huh? You receive a link to a zip file, which you then download. Your statement would be pretty FUDly if it weren't so busy being wrong. I'm assuming the grandparent is talking about an automated site that imports from facebook by asking for my facebook username and password. This can't work, because the zip link goes…
Your statement would pretty wrong if it weren't so busy being rude It was rude, and deliberately so. The parent brazenly said something that was wholly wrong, which was well received with no dissent. If I care about the quality of information on Hacker News it is my duty to call attention to this situation. A downvote is not sufficient. I either have to copy-paste the link from my e-mail or provide my e-mail address…
Reporter: "Do you actually get your friends contact info as well. is any of the data in a format that can be easily imported?"
Mark: What we are focusing on today is your information...not your friends information, because that is not your information..
That clearly seems to me like they will be scrubbing not just IDs but also email addresses of my friends when I download my data. So when I take my data to a new service, I am not taking my friends with me. This means any new social network that I want to export my friend data to still has to go via the Facebook API. And what's the catch with that?
What Facebook doesn't allow anyone who uses their API to do is use data you get from them to target ads to users even if the user consents.
See their terms, 9.6, for developers:
You will not directly or indirectly transfer any data you receive from us to (or use such data in connection with) any ad network, ad exchange, data broker, or other advertising related toolset, even if a user consents to that transfer or use.
Further, the new social network, a Facebook competitor, would continue to be dependent on Facebook and any future changes to their TOS which they are forever subject to.
A bunch of people thought that with the user now free to export all their data and import it into a new social network, platforms competing with FB, who want to source data from FB, would be able to do so without consenting to Facebook's terms like the one above and permanently free them from future changes to Facebook's terms. Clearly that is not the case, since using the Graph API means you are still subject to these terms.
I was not making any statements about Facebook's confidence or lack thereof. And sure there is no credible competition at this point, but that's my point. Competition is good.
Finally, you said:
It was rude, and deliberately so...it is my duty to call attention to this situation. A downvote is not sufficient.
If you think that calling attention to factual inaccuracies requires being rude, I think you have misjudged HN as a discussion platform and, in my opinion, misunderstood the general rules of conversation as well. I'll leave it at that.
I never implied that people "really want to leave Facebook". May be you should stop conflating opinions expressed in other comments with mine.
[1] http://www.livestream.com/facebookinnovations/video?clipId=p...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
unless you are comfortable giving the new platform access to your inbox, they can't get your data Huh? You receive a link to a zip file, which you then download. Your statement would be pretty FUDly if it weren't so busy being wrong. I am not sure if it will have a list of their names, but without an email address, such a list would be largely useless to any new platform. If your friend also dumps their Facebook data…
>>unless you are comfortable giving the new platform access to your inbox, they can't get your data >Huh? You receive a link to a zip file, which you then download. Your statement would be pretty FUDly if it weren't so busy being wrong. I'm assuming the grandparent is talking about an automated site that imports from facebook by asking for my facebook username and password. This can't work, because the zip link goes…
Having to copy-paste a link from email, or forward the email to the new network would be yet another barrier for a new user.
I think Facebook has designed this feature very carefully so as to make sure it doesn't make it easier for another platform to use this as a data import feature. First, the process to get your data is not "click a button and download" but "click a button - wait for emailed link - download". This means that unless you are comfortable giving the new platform access to your inbox, they can't get your data. Secondly, Mar…
That seems like it also reduces some of the potential security downsides. You probably don't want a situation where tricking a user into giving up their password results in the ability to instantly pull huge piles of information.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Your statement would pretty wrong if it weren't so busy being rude It was rude, and deliberately so. The parent brazenly said something that was wholly wrong, which was well received with no dissent. If I care about the quality of information on Hacker News it is my duty to call attention to this situation. A downvote is not sufficient. I either have to copy-paste the link from my e-mail or provide my e-mail address…
My comment was based on Mark's statements. The actual video is at [1]. Scroll forward to 1:26:30. I'll try to quote the relevant parts verbatim: Reporter: "Do you actually get your friends contact info as well. is any of the data in a format that can be easily imported?" Mark: What we are focusing on today is your information...not your friends information, because that is not your information.. That clearly seems to…
What do you base this on? "not your friends information, because that is not your information" suggests to me that you cannot download your friends' photos and status updates. That says nothing specifically of your friends' Facebook ids, which (privacy settings permitting) are public to the point of being indexed by Google.
Further, the new social network, a Facebook competitor, would continue to be dependent on Facebook and any future changes to their TOS which they are forever subject to.
Only for future updates. If someone wanted to leave, they could.
What I dislike about your line of reasoning is that it presupposes that nothing has really changed, when the reality seems to be very different. Not only have developers been given access to Facebook data, they are allowed to cache it indefinitely (bound only to the user requesting removal). This is a radical departure from last year.
I feel that it is important for this to be recognized on Hacker News, because this is the community that would most benefit from realizing that the field has changed. The social space has become more open (maybe temporarily) to competition, but this also signals that the incumbent has a strong enough position to allow this. A year or two ago, you might worry that Facebook would prevent you from getting any traction. Now you only have to worry that creating a competing network is so hard that Facebook thinks no one can do it.
If you think that calling attention to factual inaccuracies requires being rude
No, it doesn't. But it does get skin in the game, and at the right time that can be valuable. Also my self-description of rudeness is also an overstatement of a single sentence in my first post in this discussion. I hope that the rest of my commentary has not been viewed as such (maybe curt, but hopefully not rude).
I never implied that people "really want to leave Facebook"
Sorry if that was implied, it was a comment on the zeitgeist of Hacker News and not you specifically.