Palo Alto,
Calif. – In response to outcry
from users, privacy advocates and lawmakers, Facebook on Wednesday announced a
redesign of its Privacy Settings that it says will "make it simpler for people to
control how public or private they want to be through Facebook." The new
settings include a single interface where users can control who can see their
content, as well as a reduction in the amount of basic information that must be
visible to everyone, and the ability for users to turn off all applications
completely.
The company also made it easier to turn off "instant
personalization," a new feature that raised privacy hackles by
automatically sharing information with third-party websites like Yelp and
Pandora.
However, many of these settings for sharing of personal data remain in
an "opt-out" model, where users must specifically decline to
participate, rather than "opt-in," where they must actively choose to
share their information.
CNET News.com, which covered CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s address to
reporters at the company’s Palo Alto,
Calif. headquarters, noted that
the new controls brought down the number of privacy settings from 50 to less
than 15, and 10 settings on 3 pages to 7 settings on one page.
"Finally
and perhaps most importantly, I am pleased to say that with these changes the
overhaul of Facebook’s privacy model is complete," Zuckerberg wrote in a
blog post.
"If you find these changes helpful, then we plan to keep this
privacy framework for a long time. That means you won’t need to worry about
changes. (Believe me, we’re probably happier about this than you are.)"
The
company plans to roll out the new settings to all users over the next few
weeks, while developers have until June 30 to make sure their applications and
games fall in line with the new data permissions model.
Related Links:
http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=391922327130
http://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/384
I’m glad that Facebook is releasing easier to use controls. It’s a joke how hard to understand their previous privacy controls are. In the long run though, I doubt that privacy is salvageable regardless of what Facebook does. I think it’s a good thing that Facebook is making life easier for people, I just wonder in the long run how much it actually matters.