Facebook has given us a new feature. We can now download all the information we ever put on Facebook. To get started, go to your Account Settings page.
Locate Download Your Information and click on learn more.
You will be directed to the Download Your Information page and you can read all about it from there. Security is a big concern so you are warned that you will be asked for authentication to verify your identity.
If you decide to "Download Yourself", click on the green Download button.
Once your archive is ready to be downloaded, Facebook will send you an e-mail containing the link to begin the authentication process.
The e-mail took about 20-30 minutes to receive.
Here is the part that sucks. It specifically states on the Facebook Help Center Download Your Information Page that "Once you receive the email, you will have to re-enter your password and if you are using a public computer or one you do not use regularly, you may also have to solve a friend photo captcha or an SMS captcha via your mobile phone".
From the computer I ALWAYS use, I clicked on the link provided in the e-mail and verified my password.
At this point, I jumped ship and I doubt I go back. I'm not going to risk losing my Facebook account because I can't prove my own identity. I shouldn't have to worry about hackers getting all this information but that's not the case. Bossy Don of TopMafia.Info wrote about this feature when it was first implemented (1). She was able to get her information and was never asked for a security check. All she had to do was verify her password. She received an extensive html file that contained everything she ever posted on Facebook to include comments and inbox messages.
This seems like a problem to me. Hackers need two things to gain access to your Facebook account. Your password and your email. If you aren't careful and take precautions (1), these things are not hard to get. If a hacker gains access to your account, they have everything they need to download YOU. If you buy Reward Points, your financial information will be in your Facebook account as well.
Many thanks to Bossy Don for bringing the Download Yourself feature to my attention.
| Article written by Jennifer Patterson, Creator of the MW Loot Lady Blog, The Mafia Wars Loot Lady Facebook Fan Page and Co-Host of The Informant Podcast. |
I had to do that friend check thing when I traveled to England this past summer. Talk about stress. I made it on my last shot. Luckily they picked people I had at least an educated guess on who they were. Facebook says it's a place for family and friends to get together and will penalize you if you don't know the people you try to friend, and yet it sells space to games which they know make you add people you don't know as friends. I think it's time that Facebook realizes or admits that they know that their are two types accounts. Friend account and game accounts. I'm sure that my saying that will fix the problem immediately. :)
ReplyDeleteAgree to a friends-game accounts strategy. :)
ReplyDeleteThis info is old at least ten days, nothing new, so it is just good old info? I'm really disappointed
ReplyDeleteanonymous, its new to me, and I imagine to many other readers.
ReplyDeleteif we dont need to download this info, its just another part of Fb that's not used.
nice info, the message? Do not use it? And finally - link to MW only in the part that you have 5000 friends.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous hey Bossy Don, from TopMafia, i only saw this hours before it was posted, and it wasnt there the day before, Facebook is WORSE then Zynga at rolling things out slowly, there are features they have posted on blogs etc that ive been waiting to test and finally show up a month later!
ReplyDeleteso Please excuse me for my Facebook server being behind the rest, ive tried sending it extra bits for its bytes but that hasnt helped so far
-Bossy Don
Thanks for bringing this to our attention MWLady.. I will point out another problem with this verification process. Recently, I moved from Germany to Italy... no problems really, had expected FB to make me verify account because of different ip, but nope, they just let me log right in with no problem. Then, the laptop I was using started blue screening every 5 minutes, so I started working on hubby's laptop and sure enough, verification processing asked me to verify my identity... I couldn't identify pictures they had chosen, many were of "games" people posted such as farmville maps decorated etc.. I did write FB over the issue, because I feel the problem is flawed, even if your the best friend of someone, you can't possibly know everything or everyone in a set of pictures.
ReplyDeleteThe way I ended up getting around it tho and possibly with the download info link it will also work, but what happened was I went back to broken laptop, tried to login, and I received a note that my account had tried to be accessed via an Italy ip, was this ok? So I said.. yes, it was.. went back to hubby's laptop, and wala, it allowed me to login without having to go thru verify process.
Perhaps this may help you in some way to download your info. I see no need to download my info, I never buy FB credits or pay money for stuff, I'd hate to lose my mw game, but it's not like I couldn't start over either. I know how to play, could level up quickly, and at the same time.. I'd probably do a better job of spreading out skill points :) hehehe -- Annihilator