Be sure to check out the bit about Facial Recognition Data at the very end of this post. Hmmm.

Facebook actually makes it pretty easy to download this archive:

• Login to Facebook
• Select Settings (on the web, it’s in the rightmost menu, the one that appears when you click on the triangle)
• Click the link in the bottom of the main area, within the sentence, “Download a copy of your Facebook data.”

You’ll likely have to jump through a few security hoops, typing in your password, perhaps entering a security code texted to your main device.

Eventually (could be more than an hour), you’ll get an email with a link to download your archive. Click the link, perhaps type your password again, and you’ll find a .zip file in your Downloads folder.

Double-click the .zip file and you’ll end up with a folder called Facebook-xxx, where xxx is your Facebook nickname. Open the folder, and double-click the index.htm file to launch an HTML interface that gives you organized access to your data.

First things first, the level of detailed information Facebook has collected is astonishing. Start off by tapping on Contact Info on the left sidebar. Scroll, scroll, scroll. Look at all those phone numbers and email addresses. Wow!

Next, tap Ads to see a list of advertisers with your contact info.

Keep digging. So much more detail. Before all the Facebook news broke, did you have any idea that Facebook had this much info on you?

Slightly chilling to me is this little nugget buried in the Photos section. It’s called Facial Recognition Data and is clearly a chunk of encoded data. No idea where this comes from. No explanation. Yikes. Here’s a picture.

UPDATE: According to this Facebook Help page, Facial Recognition Data is “A unique number based on a comparison of the photos you’re tagged in. We use this data to help others tag you in photos.” Hmmm.