VIDEO: SocialSafe launches Facebook backup software

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21 September 2009 15:10 GMT / By Duncan Geere

What happens if Facebook goes down, permanently? Think about it - how many pictures have you got on there? How many people are you only in touch with on the social network? What would happen if, suddenly, access to all that was withdrawn?

That's the question that SocialSafe wants you to ask yourself. It's a company that's developed a product to access Facebook's API, download all your data, and safely store it as a backup - in case the unthinkable happens.

As a side benefit, it's also a handy offline backup of the site. If you're having web trouble, but you absolutely MUST have that picture of you dressed like Michael Jackson in the Thriller video, then SocialSafe will give you access.

It's not clear how Facebook will respond to the service that SocialSafe provides. It makes very clear in its terms of service: "You will not collect users' content or information, or otherwise access Facebook, using automated means (such as harvesting bots, robots, spiders, or scrapers) without our permission".

The site responds: "According to the Facebook terms and conditions it is up to the user to back up the details stored on Facebook and SocialSafe abides by Facebook. You the user are accessing your own account (through the official Facebook API they make available to developers like us) to pull your data down onto your machine - this is data you created".

"There is no scraping of other users data as this is against the rules nor do we at SocialSafe see any of this data - hence both you and the SocialSafe application are not in violation of any of the terms of Facebook. Thus there should be no chance of your Facebook account being deleted as a result of you installing and using SocialSafe".

If you fancy risking it, then you can download the application from SocialSafe's website. It runs in Adobe Air and costs £2 at the time of writing, though the company says that's an introductory offer and to expect a price rise soon.

Via: socialsafe.net

Full tags

Software, Facebook, Social networking, Online, SocialSafe, Video