A new trove of internal Facebook emails is a stark reminder: You are Facebook’s product

The documents had previously been sealed as part of an ongoing lawsuit filed against Facebook in California, but were made public by Britains Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, which collected the documents last week.

The emails arent necessarily scandalous, but they do offer a glimpse into how Facebook thinks about user data, and how access to that data was core to Facebooks success and business.

In reality, Facebook uses that personal information to target you with advertising, but it holds onto the bulk of the data itself.

Facebook ultimately decided not to charge for this kind of data sharing, but the consideration is a reminder of how Facebook has built an entire business on peoples personal information.

But again, the underlying theme here is that Facebooks competitive business advantage lies in having access to peoples personal information, an important understanding at a time when regulatory bodies are likely looking at Facebooks competitive practices more closely now than ever.

One of the most important was whether or not Facebook was ignorant about the risks of sharing user data, or just didnt care about them.

It wasnt just another win-at-all-costs business, but the place where you post your baby photos and stay in touch with your friends from college.

What weve learned over the past month from Facebooks dealings in Washington to its relationship to oppo research firms to Wednesdays email dump is that Facebook is a ruthless business, and your personal data keeps it alive.

Original article