Facebook to Ensure More Privacy for You
Social
network Facebook plans to improve people's control over their
information and enable them to make more choices about their privacy.
It’ll include new notifications, additions to Facebook's Privacy Policy,
and technical changes to give people more transparency and control over
the information they provide to third-party applications.
The
changes announced are a result of the company's work with the Office of
the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, which has spent more than a year
reviewing Facebook's privacy policies and controls, says Facebook.
The
Commissioner has made a number of recommendations, to which Facebook has
responded with commitments for significant enhancements that will be
implemented over the next 12 months.
Earlier
in February, after a
brief controversy when Facebook unilaterally
removed pictures of a breastfeeding mother
from its site, the leading social network had decided to give voice to
its users to decide about the future policies governing the service.
(Read:
Facebook Opens more Doors for Users)
"Our
productive and constructive dialogue with the Commissioner's office has
given us an opportunity to improve our policies and practices in a way
that will provide even greater transparency and control for Facebook
users," said Elliot Schrage, VP of Global Communications and Public
Policy at Facebook.
Specific changes Facebook will be making:
-
Updating the Privacy Policy to better describe a number of practices,
including the reasons for the collection of date of birth, account
memorialization for deceased users, the distinction between account
deactivation and deletion, and how its advertising programs work.
-
Encouraging users to review their privacy settings to make sure the
defaults and selections reflect the user's preferences.
-
Increasing the understanding and control a user has over the
information accessed by third-party applications. Specifically,
Facebook will introduce a new permissions model that will require
applications to specify the categories of information they wish to
access and obtain express consent from the user before any data is
shared. In addition, the user will also have to specifically approve
any access to their friends' information, which would still be subject
to the friend's privacy and application settings.
Work on
the planned changes will begin immediately, says Facebook.
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