Facebook Tweaks Privacy Policy

In response to criticism from Canadian Privacy Comissioner Jennifer Stoddart, Facebook has tweaked some of its privacy settings to include easier to read language and more specific details on privacy controls. Facebook has also opened up its new privacy policy for feedback, asking users to leave their  suggestions at the official Facebook Blog.

Here are the three most important highlights via the Facebook Blog:

• Facebook is designed to make it easy for you to share your information with anyone you want. You decide how much information you feel comfortable sharing on Facebook and you control how it is distributed through your privacy settings. You should review the default privacy settings and change them if necessary to reflect your preferences. You should also consider your settings whenever you share information.
• Facebook is not just a website. It is also a service for sharing your information on Facebook-enhanced applications and websites. You can control how you share information with those third-party applications and websites through your application settings and you can learn more about how information is shared with them on our About Platform page. You can also limit how your friends share your information with applications through your privacy settings.
• Facebook is a free service supported primarily by advertising. We will not share your information with advertisers without your consent. We allow advertisers to select characteristics of users they want to show their advertisements to and we use the information users share with us to serve those advertisements.

In the past, we’ve praised Facebook for its efforts to improve privacy on the site, and it’s good to see them continuing to evolve to meet new privacy concerns. However, it is also interesting to note that this change only came about after external pressure. It is important for all Internet users to work in tandem with elected and appointed leaders like Commissioner Stoddart to ensure that our privacy and personal data is secured. Change doesn’t happen spontaneously. In order to effect positive change, we must demand personal data privacy.