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Wednesday, 31st March 2010

Massive Database of Facebook Profiles Deleted After Threat of Lawsuit

From a USA Today Article:

New Scientist is reporting that a massive database culled from the public profiles of 210 million Facebook users has been destroyed before its anticipated — and controversial — release to researchers.

Pete Warden, a former Apple engineer, reluctantly deleted the data after Facebook threatened legal action, saying he could not afford to fight a lawsuit. He said Facebook was not aware that such information was available and that the flaw is being patched.

His handiwork included a "social graph" and a colorful "visualization" that revealed connections among all FB users, which New Scientist writes "would have been a powerful research tool for social scientists and others interested in how people interact." That raised privacy concerns.

Source: USA Today

See Also: New Scientist Article

See Also: Comments from Pete Warden on His PeteSearch Blog

See Also: On 2/11 We Posted an Item About Pete Warden
It includes several static maps along with an interactive map. (Amazing!)


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