S?m? people might think that online ?r?v??? is a, w?ll, private m?tt?r. If ??u d?n’t want ??ur information g?tt?ng out ?nl?n?, don’t ?ut ?t ?n ?????l m?d??. Simple, r?ght?
But keeping ??ur ?nf?rm?t??n ?r?v?t? ??n’t ju?t about your ?wn ?h?????. It’? ?b?ut ??ur fr??nd?’ ?h?????, t??. R??ult? from a ?tud? of a n?w-d?fun?t ?????l m?d?? ??t? show th?t the inhabitants of the d?g?t?l age m?? n??d to stop and th?nk ?b?ut ju?t how mu?h they ??ntr?l th??r personal information, and where the boundaries of th??r ?r?v??? are.
Wh?n someone joins a social n?tw?rk, the first order ?f business is, of course, t? find fr??nd?. To ??d th? process, many ???? ?ff?r t? ?m??rt ??nt??t l??t? fr?m ??m??n?’? ?h?n? or ?-m??l or Facebook, t? f?nd m?t?h?? with ????l? ?lr??d? in the n?tw?rk.
Sh?r?ng those ??nt??t l??t? seems ?nn??u?u?, n?t?? David G?r???, a ??m?ut?t??n?l ?????l ????nt??t at the Complexity S???n?? Hub V??nn? in Au?tr??. “P???l? giving ??nt??t l??t?, th??’r? not d??ng anything wrong,” h? says. “You ?r? th??r fr??nd. Y?u gave th?m th? ?-m??l ?ddr??? ?nd ?h?n? numb?r.” Most ?f th? t?m?, you ?r?b?bl? want t? ?t?? in t?u?h w?th the person, possibly ?v?n via the ?????l m?d?? ??t?.
But th? social network th?n has th?t ?nf?rm?t??n — wh?th?r ?r n?t th? ?wn?r of ?t w?nt?d ?t ?h?r?d.
S????l platforms’ ?b?l?t? t? ??ll??t ?nd curate th?? ?xtr? ?nf?rm?t??n ?nt? wh?t ?r? ??ll?d shadow ?r?f?l?? f?r?t ??m? t? light with a F???b??k bug ?n 2013. Th? bug ?n?dv?rt?ntl? ?h?r?d th? e-mail ?ddr????? ?nd ?h?n? numbers ?f ??m? 6 m?ll??n u??r? with ?ll ?f th??r fr??nd?, even wh?n th? information wasn’t public.
Facebook ?mm?d??t?l? addressed the bug. But ?ft?rw?rd, ??m? users n?t???d that the ?h?n? numb?r? ?n th??r F???b??k ?r?f?l?? h?d still b??n f?ll?d ?n — ?v?n th?ugh th?? had n?t given F???b??k their d?g?t?. Instead, F???b??k had ??ll??t?d th? numb?r? from th? ??nt??t l??t? innocently provided by th??r friends, ?nd f?ll?d in th? missing information f?r th?m. A ?h?d?w ?r?f?l? had become r??l?t?.
It’? n? ?ur?r??? that a social ?l?tf?rm ??uld take n?m??, ?-m??l addresses and ?h?n? numb?r? ?nd match them u? w?th other ????l? ?n th? same ?l?tf?rm. But Garcia w?nd?r?d ?f these ?h?d?w profiles ??uld be ?xt?nd?d t? ????l? not ?n th? social ?l?tf?rm ?t ?ll.
H? turned t? a now-defunct ?????l n?tw?rk ??ll?d Fr??nd?t?r. A precursor t? sites l?k? M?S???? and Facebook, Friendster l?un?h?d ?n 2002. In 2008, th? ?????l ??t? b???t?d m?r? than 115 m?ll??n users. But b? 2009 ????l? b?g?n t? jum? ?h?? f?r other ??t??, ?nd in 2015 Fr??nd?t?r ?l???d f?r g??d. M?ll??n? ?f abandoned ?ubl?? ?r?f?l?? v?n??h?d ?nt? th? ?th?r.
Or d?d they? Th? Internet Ar?h?v? — a n?n?r?f?t l?br?r? — h?? ?n ?r?h?v? ?f m?r? than 200 b?ll??n w?b ??g??, ?n?lud?ng Fr??nd?t?r. Garcia w?? ?bl? t? u?? that repository t? get d?t? ?n 100 million ?ubl?? ????unt? from the ?????l m?d?? ??t?. G?r??? dug thr?ugh th? records ?n a process h? ??ll? Int?rn?t Archaeology, ?ft?r a ??t?r???l v?d?? from The On??n in wh??h ?n ?nt?rn?t ?r?h???l?g??t ?nn?un??? th?t h? h??, ?r?n???ll?, d????v?r?d Friendster. “The time ???l? ?f ?nl?n? m?d?? is v?r? fast, but ?t’? ?t?ll ?tud??ng th?ng? in ?????t? th?t d?n’t ?x??t ?n?m?r?,” h? ?x?l??n?.