Facebook overhauls privacy settings

 

Facebook officials say their site's new privacy settings were designed to give users a better idea of who can see what it is they're posting to Facebook and what parts of their profile are visible to their friends and to the public.

Photograph by: Thierry Roge, Reuters

Facebook is once again overhauling its settings in an effort to place privacy at the heart of the social networking experience, giving users more control over what they share, and with whom.

The revamped privacy standards mark the social networking giant's latest effort to repair its tarnished reputation and improve the safeguards around the personal information of the site's more than 750 million users.

The new settings may also be a response to Google+, a competing social network that won rave reviews from users for its privacy controls when it was launched by rival Google Inc. less than two months ago.

Facebook officials said the new settings - which are due to be rolled out to all users in the coming weeks - were part of a "proactive and global effort" to give users a better idea of who can see what it is they're posting to Facebook and what parts of their profile are visible to their friends and to the broader web.

"People should never have to wonder when they post something on Facebook who is going to see it," Meredith Chin, Facebook's manager of product communications, said during a briefing with reporters. "This is about moving privacy settings to the forefront."

The changes to Facebook's privacy settings include: inline profile controls that allow users to determine who will see a post and a tag review feature allowing users to accept or decline a tag in a post or photo. As well, now when a post is visible to the entire Internet, it will be labelled "public."

Facebook, which recently briefed the Office of Canada's Privacy Commissioner on privacy matters related to the network, said the changes were created without input or recommendation from government privacy watchdogs or third-party privacy groups.

Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart has played a key role in the evolution of Facebook's privacy policies. A 2009 investigation and report led to sweeping changes to the way Facebook and its thirdparty partners can access the personal information of Facebook users.

A spokeswoman for the Privacy Commissioner Office said it has not had a chance to examine the Facebook changes in depth.