Facebook’s privacy policies challenged

AUSTRIAN law student Max Schrems may be just one of about 800 million Facebook users, but that hasn’t stopped him tackling the US giant behind the social networking website over its privacy policies.

The 24-year-old was not sure what to expect when he requested Facebook provide him with a record of the personal data it holds on him, but he certainly wasn’t ready for the 1,222 pages of information he received.

This included photos, messages and postings on his Facebook page dating back years, some of which he thought he had deleted, the times he had clicked “like” on an item, “pokes” of fellow users, and reams of other information.