 (Andrea Chronopoulos for The Washington Post) | Perspective • By Geoffrey A. Fowler Megan Borovicka joined Facebook in 2013 and then forgot she even had an account. But Facebook never forgot about her. The 42-year-old Oakland, Calif., lawyer never picked any "friends," posted any status updates, liked any photos or even opened the Facebook app on her phone. Yet over the last decade, Facebook has used an invisible data vacuum to suction up very specific details about her life — from her brand of underwear to where she received her paycheck. "It's a strange feeling," Borovicka told me, after I showed her what Facebook knew about her. She paused looking at a string of shopping data from one Christmas when she was stuck with a sick kid while her husband went to Macy's. "Why do they need to know that?" she said. "I thought if I'm not using Facebook, I wouldn't be in its orbit." How does Facebook's bigness hurt you and me? As Borovicka and I learned, Facebook takes a toll on your privacy — but perhaps not in the way you expect. Read more » | We've expanded our technology reporting: Meet your Help Desk A new destination for trusted advice about tech. | | | | 
