Deleted Facebook photos still accessible online: Report
Facebook has been repeatedly criticised for not respecting the privacy rights of its users. Of late the social networking has taken a number of measures in this regard. However, the privacy issues have continued to haunt the largest social networking site. According to a technology site Ars Technica, the photos that have been deleted by Facebook users months or years ago may still be present on the site. The “deleted” Facebook photos can still be accessed via direct link. This means, a photo (later deleted) that was circulated by e-mail could possibly be still there if anyone clicks the link.
Unfortunately, Facebook has also confirmed that its older systems for storing uploaded content “did not always delete images from content delivery networks in a reasonable period of time even though they were immediately removed from the site.” The company, however, added that it is working on a newer system to speed up the process.
Technology site Ars Technica further said that Facebook has failed to fix the problems with its systems used for removing photos in spite of a number of users pointing out this problem. “We have been working hard to move our photo storage to newer systems which do ensure photos are fully deleted within 45 days of the removal request being received,” the paper quoted a Facebook spokesman, as saying.
The spokesperson also added that the process is almost complete and only a very small percentage of users may be affected. The revelation comes days after Facebook drew heat over making its controversial ‘Timeline‘ profile format mandatory for its users. The social networking site gave seven days to ‘tidy up’ their timelines by deleting pictures and posts they didn’t like.
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